Donald Trump's new administration wants to scrap a crash reporting requirement, Elon Musk's Tesla previously complained about. The move could weaken the government's ability to investigate and regulate the safety of cars with automated driving systems (Autopilots).
Source. Reuters writes about this.
Musk, as it became known, spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump become US president.
Tesla, which has the highest number of accidents – more than 1,500 – will benefit the most from the abolition of the requirement to disclose accidents. Musk's company has become the target of investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), including three fatal accidents.
The recommendation to repeal the crash reporting rule came from Trump's team tasked with developing a 100-day strategy for auto policy. Trump has described the initiative as a way to combat “excessive” data collection.
It is not yet known whether Elon Musk played any role in this initiative.
A Reuters analysis shows that Tesla accounts for 40 of the 45 fatal crashes reported by NHTSA.
Among the Tesla crashes reported in the report were a fatal crash in Virginia in 2023, when a driver using Autopilot crashed into a tractor-trailer, and a crash in California the same year, where a Tesla on Autopilot crashed into a fire truck, killing the driver and injuring four firefighters.
The NHTSA said in a statement that the reporting data is critical to assessing the safety of new automated driving technologies.
The crash reporting requirements were key to the agency’s investigation into Tesla’s driver-assistance features, which led to a recall of the cars in 2023. Without that data, NHTSA will not be able to identify models that are unsafe.
NHTSA said it has analyzed data from more than 2,700 crashes since the rule was introduced in 2021. That data has influenced 10 investigations into six companies, as well as 9 safety recalls involving four different companies.
As you know, after the election, Trump appointed Musk as one of the heads of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency to advise the «foreign government» on cost reduction and regulation.