Donald Trump’s transition team is reportedly considering scrapping a car-crash reporting requirement that Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk stongly opposes, according to a new report.
According to Reuters, which viewed a document reportedly proposing the change, the removal of the requirement could hamstring the government's ability to effectively investigate crashes and regulate the safety of vehicles with self-driving systems, like Musk's Teslas and Cybertrucks.
Musk, who is the world's richest man, used his vast wealth to pour a quarter of a billion dollars into Trump's 2024 campaign. If Trump's team does remove the accident reporting requirements, it would likely directly benefit Musk's Tesla, which has reported the majority of crashes — more than 1,500 — to federal safety regulators under the program.
Tesla's crashes have sparked three major National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigations, according to federal data. According to the agency's data, Teslas have accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to the agency through October 15.
In one of those accidents, a driver in Virginia had their Tesla on autopilot when the vehicle slammed into an 18-wheeler truck. The same year an autopilot-enabled Tesla drove into a firetruck, killing the driver and injuring four firefighters.
Musk and failed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have been tapped by Trump to lead something called the "Department of Government Efficiency" that has been tasked with dreaming up a list of federal agencies to gut.
Musk is not the only automaker to oppose the self-driving car-crash reporting requirements. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation has also expressed opposition to the regulation. There is no evidence that Musk or any other group had direct influence on the plan to scrap the requirement. Yet Musk contributed millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign and has been deemed the president-elect’s “first buddy.”
The current rule requires automakers to report crashes if advanced driver-assistance or self-driving technologies were engaged within 30 seconds of an accident.
According to the NHTSA, the data collected by the regulation provides crucial insights into crashes that the agency can use to improve safety on the nation's roads as self-driving cars become more prevalent.
Two employees, speaking anonymously to Reuters, said that data collected from the program directly influenced a 2023 Tesla recall, and argued that losing access to the information would hamper the agency's ability to detect crash patterns.
The regulation isn't just a millstone around Musk's neck; the NHTSA said data collected from the regulation has led to nine safety recalls from four different companies.
General Motors was one of those companies. The agency fined GM $1.5 million after it learned the company failed to report a 2023 incident during which a self-driving car hit and dragged a pedestrian who had already been struck by another car.
Earlier this week, GM announced it was going to shutter its plans to develop self-driving taxis and would instead focus its efforts on improving driver-assistance technology.
The document viewed by Reuters did not only recommend ending the self-reporting rule, but called for Trump's team to generally "liberalize" self-driving car regulation and to enact "basic regulations to enable development" of the industry.
Despite being "dark gothic MAGA," Musk is apparently a fan of some federal regulations. During an October Tesla earnings call, he called for a nationwide approval process for autonomous vehicles, largely because he found navigating the various state laws on self-driving cars to be "incredibly painful."
He reportedly boasted during the call that he would use his influence in Trump's orbit to push for those regulations, taking control out of the hands of the states and putting it into the same federal government he and Ramaswamy are hoping to slice up next year.
