One of the most transformational events in our nation’s history was the building of the interstate highway system. That epic undertaking required strong federal leadership from the top and a big help from regulators who provided their engineering expertise to ensure roads were built with safety in mind, prescribing road pitch rules and bridge weight bearing metrics, publishing drawings and tables. Today, our industry stands at the precipice of its next epic undertaking, transitioning to automation which will require a rethinking of the regulatory paradigm. The expertise for this transformation currently lies with the practitioners building trucks that drive themselves and robots that use our sidewalks to make deliveries. To be sure, the industry is still looking to the federal government to provide leadership, but in a different way this time. We don’t need to know how to build a guardrail, we need to know where the guardrails are so that innovation isn’t stifled but safety is preserved. This may require a rethinking of the regulator/regulated relationship and a new look at the administrative state.