The Trump transition team is recommending that the incoming administration drop a car-crash reporting requirement that is opposed by Elon Musk’s Tesla, in a move that could impact the regulation and investigation of vehicle safety with automated-driving systems. This recommendation came from a 100-day strategy for automotive policy, with the team stating that the data collection mandate was excessive. Removing this requirement would particularly benefit Tesla, which has reported the majority of crashes to federal safety regulators.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing major automakers except Tesla, has also criticized the requirement as burdensome. NHTSA crash data shows that Tesla has been involved in a significant number of fatal crashes, with investigations being conducted. NHTSA says that the crash data is essential for evaluating the safety of emerging autonomous-driving technologies and has influenced investigations and recalls.
The recommendation to remove the crash-reporting rule is part of a set of recommendations to liberalize autonomous-vehicle regulation and enable industry development. Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance systems have come under scrutiny, with lawsuits and a Department of Justice probe. Tesla executives have discussed the need to eliminate the crash-reporting requirement, viewing it as unfair since they believe they report better data than other automakers.
Experts caution against using crash data to compare the safety of different automakers, as the reporting processes may differ. Tesla likely reports a higher proportion of incidents due to real-time crash data collection and the frequency of crashes involving their driver-assistance technologies.
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