To provide US automakers, including Tesla, a competitive edge in the world’s culture for vehicle automation, the Trump administration is lowering the regulations governing self-driving cars. Carmakers can now request deductions from specific federal health regulations, according to the US Department of Transportation’s announcement on Thursday, provided that the self-driving cars are used for research, presentations, or other non-commercial purposes.
Travel director Sean Duffy characterized the choice as a wise choice. The stakes don’t be higher for us as a team, and we’re in a competition with China to out-innovate, he said in a statement. Our new model will reduce paperwork and bring us closer to a single federal standard. The self-driving business in the US is currently rife with state-level restrictions, which manufacturers have long been concerned about.
The new law even addresses accident reporting, a subject Tesla CEO Elon Musk has openly criticized. Due to its management in limited technology, Tesla is currently in charge of reporting a sizable amount of self-driving crashes. Previous to this, Musk had previously described the system as harsh and too costly. The federal government will continue to impose fall reporting requirements under the revised plan, but it will end what it refers to as “unnecessary and duplicative” procedures.
Musk announced the launch of Tesla’s self-driving car company in Austin this June, but this plan change came only one day after that announcement. The move signals a wider effort by the Trump administration to help American tech companies in the face of growing pressure from Chinese firms like BYD, though it’s also unclear how the peaceful rules will immediately gain Tesla.
Health advocates had predicted that the Trump administration would completely ban fall reports, but Thursday’s announcement confirmed that this will continue despite being in a more straightforward form.
