Trump admin’s new self-driving vehicle rules will mainly benefit Musk’s Tesla

On Thursday, President Donald Trump’s Transportation Department kept a 2021 crash-reporting order for self-driving cars but scaled it back, a change that heavily benefits Trump’s long-time ally, Musk.

According to federal data, Tesla has filed more than 1,500 crash reports since 2021 and accounted for 40 of the 45 fatal crashes listed under the rule. Faced with that record, Tesla leaders previously described the mandate as a burden they “despise.”

The standing general order, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration four years ago, required companies to tell the agency when a vehicle using an automated system is involved in a crash within 30 seconds of impact. The rule covers fully autonomous cars and the Level 2 driver-assist systems now built into millions of everyday vehicles.

The administration chose to keep the order, but the U.S. Department of Transportation rolled out a revised Automated Vehicle Framework with eased requirements.  Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the rewrite will “slash red tape and move us closer to a single national standard that spurs innovation and prioritizes safety.”

Only crashes involving level 4 automated driving systems will be reported

Under the original rule, a crash involving a Level 2 system had to be reported within five days if the vehicle’s airbags deployed or the car had to be towed, and the crash did not cause a death or involve a pedestrian or cyclist. That threshold no longer applies. 

The updated rule says companies must report only crashes involving Level 4 automated-driving systems, the kind now operated mainly by robot-taxi firms such as Waymo, unless the accident kills someone or harms a vulnerable road user.

“This has a huge impact on one particular company, Tesla, because Autopilot and Full Self-Driving are only L2 systems,” said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president for market research at Telemetry and an expert on automated vehicles. 

“Tesla has long complained that most of the reports come from its cars, and this will eliminate every report that doesn’t involve a fatality or hitting a pedestrian or cyclist.”

The new framework also widens the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program, which was once reserved for imported vehicles. Now, domestic makers can request permission to put a limited number of autonomous cars on public roads outside normal safety rules. 

NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said the changes will allow manufacturers to “develop faster and spend less time on unnecessary processes, while still advancing safety.” He called Thursday’s announcement “the first step toward making America a more welcoming environment for the next generation of automotive technology.”

The updated rules will reduce Tesla’s crash reports

The updated rules will lower Tesla crash reports and, in turn, reduce negative headlines about the company’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features. Safety advocates warn that it will also mean the public will get less information about how often such systems fail.

Elon Musk, who spent at least $277 million of his own money backing Trump’s election bid, has often faulted the crash-reporting rule and has said a change of administration was needed to remove it. 

For now, the rule survives but with a smaller footprint. Fatal crashes and incidents that injure pedestrians or cyclists must still be reported, no matter which automated system is involved, leaving the government with the most serious data points. Lesser Level 2 crashes — once the bulk of the filings — will no longer land on the public dashboard.

Industry groups praised the shift, saying it keeps regulators informed without bogging down engineers. Critics counter that, by easing disclosure for the most common type of automated system, the government is stepping back from its promise of transparency at a time when driver-assist technology is spreading quickly.

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