Tesla welcomes a big policy package: the U.S. plans to relax autonomous driving regulations

The Trump administration has introduced new regulations, this time to greenlight autonomous driving.

On Friday, April 25, according to media reports, the Trump administration will relax regulations on autonomous driving and reduce the cumbersome accident reporting process, which is considered the largest deregulation in the U.S. regarding autonomous driving laws. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated on Thursday Eastern Time:

As long as you are using autonomous vehicles for "testing, demonstration, research" and other non-commercial purposes, you can skip some compliance procedures.

In short, testing autonomous vehicles on the road will be easier and faster, allowing car companies to conduct experiments and demonstrations more readily, and innovation will no longer be hindered by red tape.

Duffy also explained:

"This administration understands that we are in an innovation race, and the stakes have never been higher. Our new framework will cut red tape and bring us closer to a national uniform standard that promotes innovation while prioritizing safety."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also promised in an open letter to autonomous vehicle developers: "We will eliminate unnecessary regulatory barriers that hinder innovation."

Officially greenlighting autonomous driving, directly addressing Tesla's core demands

This policy change directly addresses Tesla's core demands.

Currently, Tesla has sold over 2 million vehicles with autonomous driving assistance features in the U.S., and the iteration of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system relies on extensive road testing and data feedback. However, Tesla's pace of innovation has often been constrained by compliance processes.

This policy change is exactly what Elon Musk hopes for. Musk's new plan is to launch a fleet of Cybercab autonomous taxis in Austin, Texas, this June, with no steering wheel and no accelerator or brake, relying entirely on autonomous driving.

However, the reality is that this model does not meet the NHTSA's standards for roadworthy vehicles, so Musk needs to apply for a waiver from the NHTSA to operate legally, and historically, only one startup has successfully obtained such a waiver, making it extremely difficult.

Musk believes that each state and city has different autonomous driving regulations, which creates confusion. He hopes to establish a national framework to facilitate large-scale promotion; otherwise, merely dealing with regulations lowers efficiency.

However, there is always tension between regulation and innovation. Although FSD is called fully autonomous driving, Tesla's FSD system still requires a person to sit in the driver's seat and pay attention to road conditions; it does not operate completely autonomously, unlike Google's Waymo taxis, which can operate without any human intervention.

The NHTSA is keeping a close eye on Tesla, with eight ongoing investigations, five of which are related to Tesla's autonomous driving system. Musk is very dissatisfied with the NHTSA's previous collision report regulations, as the lack of specific federal regulations for autonomous driving has led the NHTSA to rely on this "collision accident report" to investigate software defects in Tesla More concerning is that a media investigation this month found that Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" has done something significant by firing a large number of new employees from the NHTSA who were involved in autonomous driving risk assessments. Insiders are worried whether Musk is actually undermining regulation under the guise of improving efficiency