The present disclosure is directed to controlling state transitions in an autonomous vehicle. In particular, a computing system can initiate the autonomous vehicle into a no-authorization state upon startup. The computing system can receive an authorization request. The computing system determines whether the authorization request includes a request to enter the first or second mode of operations, wherein the first mode of operations is associated with the autonomous vehicle being operated without a human operator and the second mode of operations is associated with the autonomous vehicle being operable by a human operator. The computing system can transition the autonomous vehicle from the no-authorization state into a standby state in response to determining the authorization request includes a request to enter the first mode of operations or into a manual-controlled state in response to determining the authorization request is a request to enter the second mode of operations.