Self-driving vehicle rules set to loosen under Trump, report says

By Nick Godt Published November 21, 2024

Tesla “has been very clear the future is autonomous,” CEO Elon Musk said in October, shortly after unveiling the Cybercab, Tesla’s self-driving robotaxi.

It now seems that Musk, who was recently nominated to lead a newly-created “Department of Government Efficiency,” is sharing his crystal ball with the incoming Trump administration.

The Trump transition team plans to make a federal framework for self-driving vehicles a top priority for the Department of Transportation, according to a Bloomberg report that cites people familiar with the matter.

“This would be a huge step forward in easing U.S. rules for self-driving cars and be a significant tailwind for Tesla’s autonomous and AI vision heading into 2025,” says Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

New federal rules under discussion would not only ease regulations around self-driving vehicles, but also raise the cap on the number of autonomous vehicles allowed on public roads, according to the report.

Under current rules, each manufacturer is allowed to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles per year in the U.S. Previous efforts to allow up to 100,000 vehicles have so far failed.

Regulators, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), have so far taken a cautious approach to the deployment of autonomous vehicles.

General Motors-backed Cruise was forced to suspend operations last year following a fatal collision. Earlier this year, the NHTSA also launched an investigation into Alphabet-owned Waymo following multiple incidents.

Waymo currently operates the only functioning robotaxi service in the U.S., with a fleet of about 700 self-driving vehicles on the road in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

While Tesla has already held discussions with ride-hailing company Uber for an upcoming robotaxi service, the company’s full self-driving software (FSD) — as currently used in regular Tesla models — has also come under heavy scrutiny by regulators.

Last month, NHTSA opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD software following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The regulator also told Tesla to stop making misleading claims about FSD’s autonomous capability and reaffirm that the software provides only a driver assist/support system.