Skip to main content

NHTSA seeks to remove old obstacles to clear the way for self-driving cars

On Friday, The U.S. National Highway Traffic-Safety Administration said it was seeking input on how it could remove regulations that are slowing down the production and deployment of self-driving cars.

“The National Highway Traffic-Safety Administration (NHTSA) seeks comments to identify any unnecessary regulatory barriers to Automated Safety Technologies, and for the testing and compliance certification of motor vehicles with unconventional automated vehicles designs, particularly those that are not equipped with controls for a human driver; e.g., steering wheel, brake or accelerator pedal,” the report said. “Further, NHTSA seeks comments on the research that would be required to remove such barriers. This action will inform subsequent steps in the regulatory process to amend Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) and other motor vehicle regulations in order to safely lay a path for innovative automated vehicle designs and technology.”

Recommended Videos

Numerous auto manufactures and tech companies are working to employ self-driving cars, but they are being hampered by nearly 60 years of safety regulations designed with human drivers in mind. For example, one such regulation requires that a vehicle’s brakes be controlled by the driver’s feet.

The NHTSA said that it hopes to begin receiving public comments by the end of November. The agency is also asking for input regarding what research it needs to undertake to determine which rules should be rewritten or removed altogether in regards to self-driving cars. However, it could take years for the agency to finish its research, and some proponents of self-driving cars are pushing Congress to act.

Such advocates scored a major victory in early October, when the Senate approved a bill that would make it easier to for companies to deploy self-driving cars. Several car manufacturers and tech companies lauded the bill, but it faces opposition from auto safety organizations that believe the NHTSA should enforce stricter safety regulations.

“Based on the guidelines that released, we have a pretty pessimistic view on how they view their regulatory role when it comes to autonomous vehicles,” Peter Kurdock, director of regulatory affairs at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told Automotive News. “When they talk about regulatory barriers, we don’t see them as barriers, we see them as safeguards.”

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Waymo’s robotaxis are rolling into another U.S. city
A Waymo driverless car.

Waymo has been testing its driverless cars in Miami intermittently for the last five years, but now it’s making serious moves to launch a robotaxi service there.

The Alphabet-owned company revealed on Thursday that it’ll start testing its Jaguar I-PACE autonomous cars on the streets of the city early next year, with the aim of launching a robotaxi service for residents and visitors via the Waymo One app in 2026.

Read more
Self-driving vehicle rules set to loosen under Trump, report says
self driving looser rules trump screenshot 2024 10 at 54 56 pm 6708947b14810

Tesla “has been very clear the future is autonomous,” CEO Elon Musk said in October, shortly after unveiling the Cybercab, Tesla’s self-driving robotaxi.

It now seems that Musk, who was recently nominated to lead a newly-created "Department of Government Efficiency," is sharing his crystal ball with the incoming Trump administration.

Read more
Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say
Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Read more