- The NHTSA just launched a new framework to cut red tape and speed up innovation.
- It’ll affect the way autonomous vehicles come to the market and the tech that enables them.
- It’ll almost certainly have a large impact on Tesla’s plans for Level 5 technology later this year.
The road to fully autonomous vehicles just got a little shorter, at least on paper. After months of speculation and industry pressure, the NHTSA has officially revised several key policies surrounding self-driving technology. The new plan changes how crashes are reported, reduces regulatory oversight, and lays out a path for expanded innovation. That’s the optimistic version, anyway. If anyone’s poised to benefit, Elon Musk is likely first in line.
Described as a new Automated Vehicle (AV) Framework, the plan has three main goals. First, prioritize safety; second, unleash innovation; and finally, enable commercial deployment. Those are the official principles. How exactly it’ll achieve each goal is what’s going to be most interesting, though.
More: Musk’s DOGE Purges NHTSA Experts On Self-Driving Risks, Guess Who Benefits?
“This Administration understands that we’re in a race with China to out-innovate, and the stakes couldn’t be higher,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy. “As part of DOT’s innovation agenda, our new framework will slash red tape and move us closer to a single national standard that spurs innovation and prioritizes safety.”
Leveling Down Crash Transparency
Months ago, some thought the NHTSA might just abolish the AV crash reporting requirement altogether. That’s not happening, but the rules for crash reporting are changing. The NHTSA doesn’t spell out those changes but does say online that “Refines the scope of crashes that are reportable for ADS and ADAS, such as adding a property damage threshold for less severe crashes involving ADS.”
It also claims that the amended SGO “Streamlines some of the fields in the reporting form, while continuing to provide NHTSA with sufficient actionable information to investigate further, when appropriate,” but doesn’t explain what is different,” but it doesn’t clarify how it streamlined the form.
AV Exemptions Expand to U.S.-Built Cars
The government will also expand the AV Exemption Program to include domestically built cars. Previously, the program basically allowed vehicles that weren’t fully certified for U.S. roads to be in the nation and tested on public roadways. Now, the government will allow U.S.-built cars to also apply for this program and test on public roads, even if the cars in question don’t meet certain standards.
Finally, the new principles allow for greater commercial deployment, though the government wasn’t very detailed about what that means just yet. We expect it’ll remove caps on the amount of commercial AVs allowed per manufacturer. Based on the previous standard, Tesla would’ve had to obtain a special exemption to deploy any more than 2,500 AVs nationwide. Now, it would seem the path is clear to a lot more robotaxis on the road.
“By streamlining the SGO for Crash Reporting and expanding an existing exemption program to domestic vehicles, we are enabling AV manufacturers to develop faster and spend less time on unnecessary processes, while still advancing safety,” said NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser. “These are the first steps toward making America a more welcoming environment for the next generation of automotive technology.”
Whether that vision leads to safer roads, or just more unanswered questions about who’s behind the wheel (or the algorithm) remains to be seen.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that some Level 2 automakers would be exempt from producing crash data. The NHTSA has clarified that it still requires Level 2 and ADS reporting “to provide sufficient information for NHTSA to identify crashes warranting further follow-up.”