Trump’s Transportation Pick Says He’ll Let Tesla Investigations Proceed

Sean Duffy, Donald Trump’s premier to lead nan Department of Transportation, said he would fto information investigations into Tesla’s precocious driving exertion to proceed, perchance mounting himself up for a conflict pinch a apical protagonist of nan president-elect.

Duffy, a erstwhile Republican congressman, lobbyist, and Fox News personality, made nan comments during his confirmation proceeding Wednesday successful beforehand of nan Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked whether he could support objectivity successful investigating Tesla, which is headed by Trump philanthropist and protagonist Elon Musk.

“Yes, I perpetrate to this committee and to you that I will fto NHTSA do their investigation,” he said. “I deliberation I too mentioned to you that a batch of nan players successful these spaces, I haven’t met immoderate of them.”

Duffy’s comments recreation months of reporting astir Musk’s unprecedented power complete Trump’s transition, successful which nan Tesla CEO has sat successful connected meetings pinch imaginable nominees, vetted caller hires, and volunteered to co-lead a committee to oversee monolithic spending cuts. Trump is too reportedly weighing argumentation decisions that would favour Musk’s business, specified arsenic eliminating a clang reporting norm for partial and afloat autonomous vehicles.

During nan Biden administration, nan National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched respective investigations into nan accusation of Tesla’s automated driving technology. One nan largest probes resulted successful a December 2023 callback of overmuch than 2 cardinal Tesla vehicles to instal amended safeguards for nan company’s Autopilot driver assistance feature. NHTSA launched different investigation into nan adequacy of nan recall.

Duffy didn’t opportunity point overmuch astir stepping into a domiciled that could put him astatine likelihood pinch Musk. But he did remark connected nan needs for nationalist authorities to amended modulate nan safe rollout of autonomous vehicles. He said:

This is not conscionable a awesome technology that has a imaginable of making our roads safer, but this is simply a nationalist accusation issue. We can’t autumn down China aliases different countries as it comes to AV technology. Right now, we personification a patchwork of laws from authorities to state. I judge location has to beryllium a nationalist law by which each of these innovators tin abide by it, no matter if they’re successful Texas aliases successful California aliases location else. And again, I’ll ever make judge that accusation is key. But aft safety, we want to springiness a wide runway for these companies and innovators to create products that are going to bring america this caller technology that, again, tin revolutionize nan measurement we get items, how we travel, whether you’re taking an Uber aliases ... It tin beryllium singular and exciting.

As proscription secretary, Duffy has a bully pulpit to advocator for a nationalist norm for self-driving cars. And its been reported that Trump is successful favour of passing specified a measurement erstwhile taking office.

But Congress has taken up respective proposals complete nan past decade, pinch mini to show for it. And its unclear whether awesome differences will beryllium settled by nan clip nan adjacent opportunity arises.

The nationalist authorities has mostly taken a backmost spot to successful regulating autonomous vehicles, leaving states to create their ain rulebooks for safe deployment — which Duffy said was not ideal. Legislation that would dramatically summation nan number of AVs connected nan roadworthy has been stalled successful Congress for complete 7 years, pinch lawmakers astatine likelihood complete a scope of issues, including safety, liability, and nan correct number of exemptions from nationalist centrifugal conveyance accusation standards.

Meanwhile, NHTSA has precocious released caller voluntary exemplary for autonomous vehicles that intends to easiness nan rollout of afloat driverless cars.