Technical Leadership Councils (TLCs) are the primary technical strategic units of USCAR. The TLCs manage USCAR's collaborative research and development portfolio, establish strategic objectives and ensure alignment of projects with partners' objectives. TLCs also help to ensure their teams meet the requirements of collaborative agreements between USCAR and other entities in their respective technical areas. Additionally, TLCs oversee research conducted by all of the teams within their specified areas.

Teams are the basic research units of USCAR. These include USCAR consortia, working groups, tech teams (part of the FreedomCAR & Fuel Partnership), task forces and committees.