In this video still image obtained via social media, the wreckage of a Tesla car can be seen after an accident in The Woodlands, Texas, on April 17, 2021. The video was shot on April 17, 2021.
Scott Engel | Scott J. Engel Reuters
Trump transition team wants incoming administration to drop car crash reporting requirement that Elon Musk opposes TeslaThe move could undermine the government’s ability to investigate and regulate the safety of vehicles with self-driving systems, according to documents seen by Reuters.
Musk, the world’s richest man, spent more than $2.5 billion to help Trump become president in November. Eliminating the accident disclosure provision would be particularly beneficial to Tesla, which has reported the majority of accidents (more than 1,500) to federal safety regulators under the program. Tesla has been the target of investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), including three from the data.
The recommendation to scrap accident reporting rules comes from a transition team tasked with developing a 100-day strategy for auto policy. The organization called the measure an “excessive” data collection mandate, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The Trump transition team, Musk and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Reuters could not determine what role, if any, Musk might have played in developing the transition team’s recommendations or the likelihood that the government would enact them. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing most major automakers besides Tesla, also criticized the requirement as being too onerous.
A Reuters analysis of NHTSA accident data shows that as of October 15, Tesla accounted for 40 of the 45 fatal accidents reported by NHTSA.
Tesla accidents investigated by NHTSA under the provision include a fatal crash in Virginia in 2023 when a driver used the car’s “Autopilot” feature to crash into a tractor-trailer, and a fatal crash in California the same year In one incident, a self-driving Tesla crashed into a fire truck, killing the driver and injuring four firefighters.
NHTSA said in a statement that such data is critical to assessing the safety of emerging autonomous driving technologies. Two former NHTSA employees say accident reporting requirements are critical to the agency’s investigation into Tesla’s driver-assistance features that led to the 2023 recall. Without this data, NHTSA cannot easily detect crash patterns that highlight safety concerns, they say.
NHTSA said it has received and analyzed data from more than 2,700 crashes since the 2021 rulemaking. recall.
As an example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) fined Cruise, a self-driving startup owned by General MotorsIn September, it was fined $1.5 million for failing to report an incident in 2023 in which a car hit and dragged a pedestrian who was struck by another vehicle. General Motors said this week that Cruise will cease development of self-driving technology.
crash report
NHTSA’s so-called standing general order requires automakers to report crashes if advanced driver-assist or autonomous technology is enabled within 30 seconds of a crash, among other factors.
In addition to abandoning reporting rules, the recommendations also call on governments to “liberalize” self-driving car regulations and develop “basic regulations to promote the development of the industry.”
During Tesla’s October earnings call, Musk called for a “federal approval process for self-driving cars” rather than cobbling together what he called “extremely painful” state laws. He said he would use his position as government efficiency czar — something Trump had promised him — to push for such regulatory changes.
After the election, Trump appointed Musk to co-lead the newly formed team The Department of Government Effectiveness advises “outside government” on cuts to federal staff, spending and regulations.
More data, more crashes
Tesla is one of the best-known automakers for developing advanced driver assistance features that assist with lane changes, driving speed and steering.
Tesla’s Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” systems, which are not fully self-driving, have come under intense scrutiny in lawsuits and a Justice Department criminal investigation into whether Tesla exaggerated its vehicles’ self-driving capabilities, misleading investors and harming them. consumer.
Tesla despises crash notification requirements and believes the data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration misleads consumers about the automaker’s safety, two sources familiar with Tesla’s top brass told Reuters.
Tesla executives have discussed with Musk the need to push for a repeal of accident reporting requirements in recent years, according to one source. But as Biden officials expressed enthusiasm for the plan, Tesla executives ultimately concluded they needed a change in administration to lift the requirements, according to sources.
Tesla considers the rules unfair because it believes it reports better data than other automakers, making it appear responsible for a large number of crashes involving advanced driver-assistance systems, one of the sources said. .
NHTSA warned that the data should not be used to compare the safety of one automaker to another because different companies collect crash information in different ways.
Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who focuses on autonomous driving, said Tesla collects immediate crash data that other companies do not and may report a much higher percentage of crashes than other automakers.
Smith said Tesla may also be involved in accidents involving driver-assist technology more frequently because the company has more vehicles equipped with these technologies on the road and drivers use the systems more frequently. He said this means vehicles may more frequently get into “situations they cannot handle”.
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