Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R) joins former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the site of the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024.
Jim Watson Afp | Getty Images
Tesla Shares jumped on Friday after reports that the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump is planning to create a federal framework to regulate self-driving vehicles as a top priority for the US Department of Transportation.
Tesla shares rose nearly 7% in midday trading after the release of the Bloomberg News report, which cited unidentified sources on the matter.
CNBC could not verify the report and sought comment from the Trump team and from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the unit of the Transportation Department tasked with overseeing self-driving technology.
Musk is a key figure in the business world pushing Trump back into the White House during this month’s election. The tech billionaire now benefits from close ties with Republican politicians, who previously ran for president between 2017 and 2021.
Last week, Trump tapped Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency – or “DOGE” for short – which he said would end government “red tape”, relax “excess” regulations and eliminate “waste”. expenditure.
The federal framework for regulating self-driving vehicles would be a major boon for Musk’s Tesla, which has promised fully self-driving vehicles for years but has so far failed to deliver cars that can be driven autonomously without a human behind the wheel. .
The long-term vision for Tesla is to produce a fleet of so-called robotaxis, autonomous vehicles that can drive people without the need for human supervision.
Last month, Musk showed Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi — a concept car called the “Cybercab,” a $30,000 two-seat vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals.
Tesla has been beaten in the robotaxi race by Google’s Waymo venture, which is among the few companies that have successfully launched self-driving cars on public roads.
Speaking during the unveiling of Tesla’s Cybercab and “Robovan” vehicles, Musk said he expects Tesla to have “unsupervised” Full Self-Driving technology and run in Texas and California next year in the company’s Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles.
Full Self-Driving, or FSD, is Tesla’s premium driver assistance system, now available in a “supervised” version for Tesla electric vehicles. FSD now requires a human driver at the wheel, ready to steer or brake at any time.
Trump’s transition team is reportedly seeking a policy leader for the Department of Transportation to develop a federal regulatory framework for self-driving vehicles, according to Bloomberg.
They include Emil Michael, a former Uber executive, Republican Reps. Sam Graves of Missouri and Garret Graves of Louisiana, Bloomberg reported.
