Hiring autonomous vehicle operators isn’t simple. DOT and FMCSA rules make compliance complex. HireArt can help streamline onboarding, renewals, and verifications so your AV workforce stays safe and road-ready.
When most companies think about hiring drivers or autonomous vehicle operators (AVOs), they picture a straightforward process: post a job, run a background check, and start onboarding.
In reality, safety-sensitive driving roles are among the most complex to employ and manage — especially when subject to Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations.
Whether you’re managing a commercial logistics fleet or pioneering autonomous vehicle technology, the administrative burden can quickly overwhelm even seasoned HR and operations teams.
Between shifting regulatory expectations, time-sensitive drug testing requirements, and a shortage of qualified operators, staying compliant requires constant vigilance.
This post explores why regulated driver and AVO employment is so complex, what makes 2025 a turning point for the industry, and how an experienced Employer of Record (EOR) like HireArt helps simplify the entire process.
The world of autonomous mobility is evolving fast.
Many programs that paused testing during market slowdowns have reactivated, and companies like Gatik, Zoox, Waymo, and Aurora are once again scaling their AV fleets.
But today’s “driver” roles look very different than before.
Modern AVOs occupy a hybrid position — part driver, part software monitor, part data collector.
They spend their days supervising vehicle systems, logging performance data, responding to disengagements, and ensuring safe operation in mixed-traffic environments. These duties blur the line between technical oversight and traditional driving, and existing regulations haven’t yet caught up.
To complicate matters, regulatory frameworks differ widely from state to state.
California’s CPUC considers AV operators safety-sensitive and enforces stringent onboarding and testing requirements. Other states follow federal DOT guidance more loosely or are still defining their own AV operator standards.
The result is a compliance patchwork that forces HR and operations leaders to interpret multiple sets of rules just to keep drivers on the road.
For employers, the cost of a single missed step is high: delayed onboarding, license downgrades, or even suspension of testing programs.
In an industry where uptime is everything, compliance precision is non-negotiable.
"Dealing with government agencies is easy!" is a sentence that has never been uttered aloud, and there's a reason for it.
Driving and operator roles are not like other hourly jobs.
One factor that differentiates AVO roles is their tight regulation from several agencies. Each agency imposes their own documentation, testing, and reporting standards:
To further complicate matters, each agency operates on strict timelines and documentation rules. Missing a medical card submission, an MVR update, or a drug test verification can mean immediate noncompliance.
The administrative weight of maintaining these requirements is why so many companies struggle to scale regulated driver and AVO teams.
This is also why the right EOR partner matters.
The phrase “driver” no longer captures the reality of these roles.
Today’s AVOs are trained to balance both physical and digital responsibilities. Unlike commercial drivers, AVOs perform hybrid technical and safety tasks.
Some of those tasks include:
This blend of physical and cognitive work creates unique employment risks — especially around training, fatigue management, and record-keeping.
Even the most experienced HR and operations teams are often surprised by how intricate DOT- and FMCSA-regulated hiring can be.
The smallest oversight can sideline a driver or operator and cost valuable uptime.
HireArt was built to solve exactly these pain points, combining workforce automation with hands-on compliance expertise.
Here’s how.
For CDL drivers, the DOT medical card must appear correctly on the driver’s Motor Vehicle Record (MVR).
When that data is missing or outdated, employers must contact state DMVs, resubmit physical documentation, and rerun MVRs until updated — a process that can take days.
How HireArt helps:
HireArt’s automated screening workflow pulls MVR and medical card data during onboarding and flags discrepancies immediately.
Our compliance specialists intervene directly with candidates or DMVs to correct errors, eliminating bottlenecks and ensuring drivers stay legally cleared for work.
FMCSA regulations require at least three years of verified driving history. But most background check vendors can’t automatically confirm when a license was first issued .
This often leads to frustrating manual follow-ups with (the dreaded) DMVs.
How HireArt helps:
HireArt’s platform integrates with national and state-level databases to collect verified history automatically.
When automation hits a wall, our compliance team manually sources and validates the records, keeping onboarding timelines intact and compliance airtight.
DOT and CPUC drug testing requirements are highly time-sensitive.
Delays from lost or diluted specimens can derail onboarding, and candidates unfamiliar with the process often miss retest windows.
How HireArt helps:
Through integrated testing networks, HireArt schedules, tracks, and documents every stage of the testing process.
Automated reminders and candidate coaching ensure completion within required timelines, while proactive retest management minimizes downtime.
FMCSA requires employers to maintain complete DQFs with employment history, medical exams, and MVRs.
Missing a single document makes the file noncompliant. While this seems like an avoidable mistake, it becomes a common issue when managing large fleets or multiple roles.
How HireArt helps:
Each HireArt onboarding automatically creates a digital DQF that consolidates all required documents.
The platform issues real-time alerts for missing items, and our compliance team assists candidates in completing them. Files remain audit-ready at all times, eliminating manual tracking and guesswork.
Medical certifications must be renewed periodically, but many drivers wait until the last possible moment. If a condition is flagged, they can lose workdays or even have their license downgraded.
How HireArt helps:
HireArt proactively monitors renewal timelines, sending automated alerts to drivers and managers weeks in advance.
Our compliance team follows up directly with any operators flagged for additional documentation, ensuring renewals are completed before they impact scheduling or deployment.
DOT- and FTA-regulated employment verifications require specific forms and timelines that generic background vendors often miss.
When candidates ignore requests or systems like Tenstreet can’t connect, employers are left scrambling.
How HireArt helps:
HireArt’s verification workflow combines automation with human oversight.
Our compliance team contacts previous employers directly, documents all attempts and responses, and appends this information to the driver’s DQF (Driver Qualification File). This ensures a complete, defensible audit trail.
Using a “standard” EOR or background check vendor for regulated driving roles can leave dangerous gaps.
Many global EORs, for example, handle international salaried workers well. However, they are not equipped for U.S. wage-and-hour compliance or safety-sensitive work. Others simply classify drivers as 1099 contractors, exposing clients to misclassification risk.
HireArt is purpose-built for contingent, hourly, and regulated roles.
We act as the Employer of Record for your drivers and AV operators, reducing admin work and risk while improving candidate experience and retention.
Employing regulated drivers and AV operators requires more than issuing a paycheck. It demands deep expertise, proactive compliance management, and a seamless candidate experience.
Here's what some of our drivers have had to say recently:
"My experience with HireArt has been very positive. Their professional communication and well-defined processes made onboarding smooth and everything easily accessible. This level of support really helped me transition confidently. At this point, I don’t see any major areas for improvement."
And, we can't help but love this short but sweet feedback from a driver:
"Everyone is helpful."
We love being helpful and creating a positive employment experience for both sides of every contract relationship.
HireArt helps companies like Gatik, Zoox, and May Mobility build large-scale driver programs without the administrative chaos.
📩 Want to see how HireArt can simplify compliance-heavy roles? Talk to our team!
