Trump & Musk Will Quash NHTSA Investigation Of Tesla Full Self Driving System – CleanTechnica

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The extent of the corruption that will be standard procedure in the next administration is now becoming clear. Elon Musk put $119 million of his own money into promoting the candidacy of Donald Trump. Now, he is set to reap the reward he anticipated, as he will be appointed to run a new agency whose mission is to take a sledgehammer to every federal agency — including NHTSA, which is currently investigating whether the Tesla Full Self Driving system is safe to use on public roads. This is like Don Corleone putting Luca Brazzi in charge of customer relations for the Mafia.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a defect investigation last month into a suite of features that Musk’s Tesla markets as Full Self-Driving, or FSD. Bloomberg says that FSD isn’t a self-driving system since it requires constant human supervision and sudden interventions. NHTSA is examining whether FSD fails to safely operate when fog, dust, glare, and other conditions reduce visibility. The probe was initiated after four crashes in which FSD was engaged and contending with these conditions. In one of the incidents, a Tesla fatally struck a pedestrian.

Musk, Tesla, & Lawfare

Days after the investigation started, Musk ranted that Tesla and his other companies have been subject to “lawfare” by federal regulators, but Bloomberg reports that defect probes are normal in the US. NHTSA has initiated 155 of them during Biden’s presidency, while 135 were opened during Trump’s first term. Tesla vehicles have been the subject of 12 defect investigations opened under Biden. During the same period, NHTSA has initiated 23 inquiries into Ford vehicles, and opened 18 probes of Stellantis and 14 involving Honda cars and trucks.

What makes the investigations of Tesla particularly noteworthy are questions about just how much power Musk will wield in determining the future course of NHTSA and the Department of Transportation. Trump announced Tuesday that Musk will co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency that will “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.” Already, Trump has said he will be “closing up the Department of Education” and deputizing responsibility to states, one of the hundreds of actions suggested by Project 2025, which Trump falsely claimed he knew nothing about during the campaign. “Good idea,” Musk responded on X this week.

None of the investigations into Tesla vehicles is more consequential than the one examining the Full Self Driving system, Bloomberg says. Musk has leaned into the technology strongly in an effort to differentiate Tesla vehicles from the competition as sales have slipped. He has cautioned against owning Tesla stock unless a person is fully committed to his vision. “If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company,” he said in April. Tesla recognized $326 million in revenue last quarter from FSD and some analysts expect software releases to eventually become the predominant generator of the company’s profits.

Monitoring The Messaging

NHTSA has taken notice of Musk’s aggressive messaging. In a filing posted to its website last week, it attached an email that one of its officials sent to Tesla representatives in May. That email flagged seven Tesla’s social media posts about FSD that had given the agency pause. Those posts showcased drivers who weren’t keeping their hands on the wheel while using FSD, such as one X user who suggested people could get home safely in a Tesla after drinking at a sporting event. Bloomberg calls that “an alarming conclusion to draw about a system that still holds the driver fully responsible for steering, stopping, and going.”

“While Tesla has the discretion to communicate with the public as it sees fit, we note that these posts show lost opportunities to temper enthusiasm for a new product with cautions on its proper use,” Gregory Magno, a division chief within NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation, wrote in the email. “We request that Tesla revisit its communications to assure that its messaging is consistent with the statements made in its user instructions and appropriate to the level of capability deployed to the public roads,” he wrote. Does that seem like “lawfare” or government overreach to you? Or is it a calm and measured response from a government regulator doing his job? You decide.

Pay To Play

CBT News says Musk’s investment in Trump could potentially translate into favorable policies and regulations for his companies. How far we have come from the days when Sherman Adams, Eisenhower’s chief of staff, was ejected from his position for the sin of accepting a vicuña coat from a South American diplomat. According to sources close to him, Musk sees government regulations as an impediment to innovation. If he strengthens his ties with the Trump administration, he can exert more influence in reshaping the current regulations so that he can expedite his business goals and innovate more freely. This significant $119 million contribution could not only benefit his companies by minimizing regulatory barriers and increasing government support, but also pave the way for a more innovative and successful future for Tesla.

Many of Musk’s business ventures, such as Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, depend heavily on government regulations, subsidies, and policy. If implemented, his “pro-innovation, anti-regulation” philosophies could significantly reshape the automotive industry and lead to a regulatory environment that is more friendly to innovation — even if individual citizens are placed at risk of bodily harm or death by those innovations. Musk clearly hopes to delay NHTSA from enacting enforcement, which would open a window of opportunity for Tesla to innovate faster.

Musk also advocates for unified federal regulations to replace the state by state autonomous vehicle approval process. He hopes that a Trump administration will establish a streamlined set of autonomous driving regulations which will provide Tesla with a notable boost as it prepares to introduce driverless cars with no steering wheel or pedals next year. A second Trump term might continue or even increase government support for electric vehicle production, CBT News suggests, if Musk’s influence pushes the Republican administration to back the industry, despite traditional GOP skepticism toward EV incentives.

While Musk’s political maneuvering could make it easier for Tesla and potentially other automakers to implement advanced driver assistance and autonomous technologies while facing fewer regulatory hurdles, it does raise crucial questions about balancing innovation with safety standards in the industry. This balance is not just a matter of policy, but a fundamental concern for the safety of all road users. There is a difference between working the refs and owning the refs. Musk wants no controls on his activities, which is great for Musk but not others. This is corruption on a grand scale and it is what the majority of Americans want, apparently.

Musk & The Scaramucci Effect

Bloomberg has some suggestions for those who seek to inject themselves into Donald Trump’s orbit. Many an influential business leader who has gained proximity to the great man has been forced out of his orbit in humiliation, it warns. The half-life of Trump influence is so brief that it has acquired its own name. It is called a “Scaramucci,” referring to the 10-day period that Anthony Scaramucci, the investor and former Trump confidant, lasted as White House press secretary before being fired in 2017. “Elon Musk and others, right now they’re in the halcyon moment with Donald Trump,” Scaramucci said in a radio interview early this month. “But they will come to the Hades moment with him. It’s just a matter of time.”