9 hours ago
4
Key figures within President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said building a legal framework to introduce fully self-driving cars in the US will be a top priority for the Department of Transport.
President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration intends to legalise fully autonomous cars, paving the way for fully self-driving vehicles – without human control – to enter US roads.
According to a report by US news outlet Bloomberg News, unnamed sources “familiar with the matter” said key figures within Trump’s transition team are planning to build the legal framework for self-driving cars as “one of the Transportation Department’s priorities”.
The anonymous sources claimed Trump’s team are currently looking to find the appropriate “policy leaders” for the Department of Transport to start work on building the regulatory laws – one of the biggest hurdles to overcome for autonomous vehicle adoption.
While the Transport Department could introduce these legislations through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – the US Federal safety body – Bloomberg reports, “an Act of Congress would clear the way for mass adoption of self-driving cars”.
If the self-driving car laws were to pass, any car maker would be eligible to introduce its self-driving technology in their US models.
As previously reported by Drive, Tesla is looking to launch the CyberCab – a fully autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals – over the next couple of years.
The CyberCab will be steered by an updated version of its Full Self-Driving System (FSD), which Musk claims won't require any human attention and intervention, unlike the current version.
Musk said the next version of Tesla’s FSD will feature an ‘unsupervised’ software and will initially be seen in Model 3 and Model Y cars located in California and Texas.
The outspoken Tesla CEO claimed the Cybercab will enter production “by 2027”, with an estimated starting price of $US30,000 ($AU45,878).
For context, this would make the Cybercab approximately 23 per cent cheaper than Tesla’s most affordable offering in Australia, the Model 3 RWD (from $57,800 before on-road costs).
Despite the car maker's advanced driving software, Tesla's self-driving system has been caught in a range of controversies resulting in various safety investigations.
In an October 2024 Drive report, the NHTSA opened a safety probe into Tesla's FSD software following four car accidents, of which one resulted in a fatal collision involving a pedestrian in 2023.
The US federal safety authority alleged the incidents occured when the FSD software was engaged, with the vehicles reportedly experiencing low visibility conditions like fog and sun glare.
Musk is a key figure within Trump’s administration, where he reportedly donated approximately $US75 million ($AU114 million) to the Republican’s presidential campaign.
More recently, President-elect Donald Trump said Musk will co-lead a new private advisory department – dubbed the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ – that will reportedly advise the new administration on how to reduce Federal Government spending.
Tesla however, isn't the only car brand with self-driving technology, as the likes of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and others have autonomous tech ready in varying stages.
Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.
