Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has been waging a war against the US government, claiming that numerous federal investigations and safety programs have hindered his company’s progress in developing self-driving cars. Now, with President Donald J. Trump in office, many of these federal headaches could disappear.
Musk’s close relationship with Trump means that some federal probes and safety programs, such as crash investigations into Tesla’s partially automated vehicles and a government mandate to report crash data on vehicles using technology like Autopilot, may be quickly nixed. This could have dire consequences for safety advocates, who argue that these federal investigations and recalls save lives.
According to experts, Musk and Trump are aggressively seeking to revamp the regulatory environment, freezing spending and programs while sacking career employees, including prosecutors and government watchdogs. However, no specific actions benefiting Tesla or Musk’s other companies have been declared yet.
The White House and Musk are waging an “unbridled war against the federal government,” sparking outcries from legal scholars who claim this is without modern-day precedent. The Trump administration has not yet taken action that could directly benefit Tesla, but snuffing out federal investigations or jettisoning safety initiatives would be easier than their assault on regulators and bureaucracy.
The federal government’s power over Tesla is significant, with agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) setting automobile safety standards and having a quasi-law enforcement arm that can launch probes into crashes. NHTSA has six pending investigations into Tesla’s self-driving technology due to dozens of crashes involving the computerized systems.
Safety advocates fear that without federal oversight, accidents may increase, and companies like Tesla may go unchecked for their failures. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a 22-year-old who died in a Tesla crash highlights the potential consequences of reduced regulatory scrutiny.
As Musk’s relationship with Trump deepens, experts warn that the regulatory environment could be significantly altered, potentially harming safety standards and public oversight.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-tesla-washington-spacex-people-b2696299.html