By Bernard Condon, Associated Press business writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration is loosening rules to help automakers like Elon Musk’s Tesla develop self-driving cars and take on Chinese rivals.
US companies developing self-driving vehicles will be granted exemptions from certain federal safety regulations for testing purposes, the Department of Transport said Thursday. The department also said it would streamline crash reporting requirements, including autonomous driving software that masks criticized as troublesome, and move towards a single national rule on technology to replace a patchwork of state regulations.
“We are in a race that has been breached from invasions with China, but our interests have not been high,” said Transport Secretary Sean Duffy in the statement. “Our new framework reduces red tape and brings it closer to a single national standard.”
The new exemption procedure allows US automakers to skip certain safety rules for self-driving vehicles if they are used solely for research, demonstrations, or other non-commercial purposes. The exemption was previously implemented on foreign imported vehicles where their country’s rules could differ from those in the US.
The decision comes a day after Musk confirmed in a conference call with Tesla investors that the electric car manufacturer will begin rolling out self-driving Tesla taxis in Austin, Texas in June.
It is not clear how the exemption from the National Traffic Safety Management Rules will specifically affect Tesla. The company has locked its future into full automation of its automobiles, but now faces tough competition from its rivals, particularly Chinese automaker BYD.
The changing conflict reporting rules have attracted criticism from masks and say they are too burdensome and unfair. Tesla is the largest seller of partially self-driving cars in the United States, so it reports many of its total crashes under the regulations.
The traffic safety watchdog was afraid the Trump administration would remove reporting rules. The transport statement said Thursday that the report will be relaxed to remove the requirement that it be “necessary and duplicated,” but the obligation to report remains.
Original issue: April 25th, 2025 9:44am EDT
