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Donald Trump’s transition team is taking aim at a Biden-era rule requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes that involve fully or partially autonomous vehicles, according to Reuters. Scrapping the crash reporting rule would greatly benefit Tesla, which to date, has reported the most number of crashes.
In 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a standing general order (SGO) requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes involving autonomous vehicles as well as Level 2 driver-assist systems found in millions of vehicles on the road today. Companies are now required to document collisions when an automated driving system was in use within 30 seconds of impact and report those incidents to the government.
The idea was to create more transparency around the deployment of a new technology that purports to improve safety but has also been tied to a number of deadly incidents. Regulators argued that more data was needed to determine whether these new systems were making roads safer or simply making driving more convenient.
Tesla, in particular, came under scrutiny. The company’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, which are considered Level 2 systems that require drivers to pay attention, are both covered under the rule. Since it was implemented, Tesla has reported over 1,500 crashes to the federal government, Reuters says. An analysis of the crash data shows Tesla accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to NHTSA through October of this year.
Tesla’s numbers were much higher than other companies, most likely due to the fact that it sells more vehicles equipped with Level 2 systems than its rivals and collects more data. But it also resulted in a huge headache for the company. NHTSA has launched several investigations into Tesla’s driver-assist technology, most of which centered on crashes reported under the SGO.
Several sources close to Tesla told Reuters that the company “despises” the standing general order and concluded that it would need a change in administration in order to get rid of it. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was one of Trump’s most vocal defenders, spending at least $277 million of his own money to back his campaign. Musk has since been appointed to head the Department of Government Efficiency with the goal of cutting government spending.
Trump is also considering getting rid of other policies opposed by Tesla, including generous subsidies for EV companies. Musk believes Tesla is better positioned to weather a subsidy-free environment than other automakers due to its scale and maturity. Musk is also lobbying Trump to ease restrictions on fully autonomous vehicles in advance of Tesla’s plans to produce its own robotaxi in 2026.
