Despite initial deployments in China and in the USA, connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are still in their infancy. While further developments are required for the technology to reach a fully mature level, it is anticipated that CAVs will transform mobility services, and impact existing road infrastructures and urban settings. To overcome upcoming challenges, a number of cities have been implementing initiatives to test and evaluate CAV potential and limitations. This communication aims to investigate the interrelated trajectories of the French local and national trajectories of CAV policies through the analysis of a large-scale CAV pilot program. Our objective is threefold: 1) to determine the main stakeholders behind national and local policies and characterize their role; 2) to review the French CAV public policy framework; 3) to compare national and local policies and provide insights onto foreseen CAV deployment trajectories and upscaling. By conducted semi-directive interviews with the industrial and public partners of the program, we show that CAV pilots are endorsed by the same actors at both levels. We demonstrate however that the objectives and policy frameworks of public actors greatly differ at the two levels. At the national level, CAV policies draw from an industrial agenda. The public policy framework is shaped by guided transport references, which raises technical challenges in terms of CAV-infrastructure interrelation. In contrast, the local CAV policy framework draws from public transport and micro-mobility perspectives (i.e., e-scooter sharing development). These results demonstrate the need to critically discuss the roles of public and private actors in shaping smart mobility policies. They also emphasize the importance of a clearly articulated and shared policy framework to address the challenges of the CAV upscaling.