Summary

  • About 30 National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) employees, many of whom were assessing the risks associated with self-driving cars, were fired in February, allegedly leading to a weakening of the administration’s oversight.
  • This comes after Tesla is under multiple investigations regarding its autonomous features, including its Full Self-Driving software and remote summon feature.
  • The makers of autonomous vehicles will have faster access to the market following a new NHTSA framework released earlier this year, however, they will need to share more data with the regulator.
  • The dismissals come at a time when the NHTSA is closely scrutinising Tesla’s driver-assist systems.
  • There are fears that the clamps laid by the Biden administration on autonomous vehicles are set to be loosened under the Trump administration.

By Umar Shakir

Original Article