Federal auto-safety regulators have opened an investigation into how Tesla certified its new Cybercab as meeting federal safety standards after the driverless vehicles began commercial deployment in Austin, Texas. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened Audit Query AQ26002 on September 3, the same day Tesla began deploying a small number of Cybercabs commercially in Austin.
Unlike a conventional passenger vehicle, the Cybercab doesn’t have permanently attached traditional manual controls such as a steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator pedal or mirrors. That’s now at the center of an unusual federal compliance review.
