{"id":144142,"date":"2025-01-15T18:30:04","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/trumps-transportation-pick-says-hell-let-tesla-investigations-proceed\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T18:30:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:30:04","slug":"trumps-transportation-pick-says-hell-let-tesla-investigations-proceed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/trumps-transportation-pick-says-hell-let-tesla-investigations-proceed\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s transportation pick says he\u2019ll let Tesla investigations proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<figure>\n      <figcaption>Photo by Samuel Corum\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"W8vo4o\">Sean Duffy, Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Department of Transportation, said he would allow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/4\/26\/24141403\/tesla-autopilot-nhtsa-investigation-recall-software-fix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">safety investigations into Tesla\u2019s advanced driving technology<\/a> to proceed, possibly setting himself up for a clash with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/11\/6\/24289494\/trump-election-electric-vehicle-tax-credit-tesla-elon-musk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a top supporter of the president-elect<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p id=\"E1dZN6\">Duffy, a former Republican congressman, lobbyist, and Fox News personality, made the comments during his confirmation hearing Wednesday in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked whether he could maintain objectivity in investigating Tesla, which is headed by Trump donor and supporter Elon Musk. <\/p>\n<p id=\"bllHw8\">\u201cYes, I commit to this committee and to you that I will let NHTSA do their investigation,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I also mentioned to you that a lot of the players in these spaces, I haven\u2019t met any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-float-left c-float-hang\">\n<aside id=\"M6gu7b\"><q>\u201cYes, I commit to this committee and to you that I will let NHTSA do their investigation\u201d<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"0dTV41\">Duffy\u2019s comments follow months of reporting about Musk\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/24296301\/elon-musk-donald-trump-tesla-evs-climate-change-auto-industry-tariffs-decoder-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unprecedented influence<\/a> over Trump\u2019s transition, in which the Tesla CEO has sat in on meetings with potential nominees, vetted new hires, and volunteered to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/11\/12\/24295165\/trump-elon-musk-doge-cut-government-spending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">co-lead a committee to oversee massive spending cuts<\/a>. Trump is also reportedly weighing policy decisions that would favor Musk\u2019s business, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/12\/13\/24320515\/trump-tesla-crash-reporting-adas-nhtsa-sgo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eliminating a crash reporting rule<\/a> for partial and fully autonomous vehicles. <\/p>\n<p id=\"plOhcd\">During the Biden administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched several investigations into the safety of Tesla\u2019s automated driving technology. One the largest probes resulted in a December 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/12\/13\/23999683\/tesla-autopilot-defect-software-update-recall-nhtsa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recall of more than 2 million Tesla vehicles<\/a> to install better safeguards for the company\u2019s Autopilot driver assist feature. NHTSA launched another investigation into the adequacy of the recall. <\/p>\n<p id=\"FLVteX\">Duffy didn\u2019t say anything more about stepping into a role that could put him at odds with Musk. But he did comment on the needs for national legislation to better regulate the safe rollout of autonomous vehicles. He said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"YhVgR5\">This is not just a wonderful technology that has a potential of making our roads safer, but this is a national security issue. We can\u2019t fall behind China or other countries as it comes to AV technology. Right now, we have a patchwork of laws from state to state. I believe there has to be a federal law by which all of these innovators can abide by it, no matter if they\u2019re in Texas or in California or somewhere else. And again, I\u2019ll always make sure that safety is key. But after safety, we want to give a wide runway for these companies and innovators to create products that are going to bring us this new technology that, again, can revolutionize the way we get items, how we travel, whether you\u2019re taking an Uber or &#8230; It can be remarkable and exciting.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"TPZLgQ\">As transportation secretary, Duffy has a bully pulpit to advocate for a national law for self-driving cars. And its been reported that Trump is in favor of passing such a bill once taking office. <\/p>\n<div class=\"c-float-left c-float-hang\">\n<aside id=\"7YsJkk\">\n<div data-anthem-component=\"readmore\" data-anthem-component-data=\"{\"stories\":[{\"title\":\"Pete Buttigieg has a few things to say on his way out\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2025\/1\/13\/24338378\/pete-buttigieg-dot-interview-ev-sales-trump-musk\"}]}\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"GQopw3\">But Congress has taken up several proposals over the past decade, with little to show for it. And its unclear whether major differences will be settled by the time the next opportunity arises. <\/p>\n<p id=\"ir8xK6\">The federal government has largely taken a back seat to in regulating autonomous vehicles, leaving states to develop their own rulebooks for safe deployment \u2014 which Duffy said was not ideal. Legislation that would dramatically increase the number of AVs on the road has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/7\/27\/23809784\/av-congress-hearing-legislation-stalled-china-liability\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stalled in Congress for over seven years<\/a>, with lawmakers at odds over a range of issues, including safety, liability, and the right number of exemptions from federal motor vehicle safety standards.<\/p>\n<p id=\"gYi6di\">Meanwhile, NHTSA has recently released new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhtsa.gov\/press-releases\/nhtsa-proposes-national-program-vehicles-automated-driving-systems\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">voluntary framework for autonomous vehicles<\/a> that aims to ease the rollout of fully driverless cars. <\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2025\/1\/15\/24344462\/sean-duffy-usdot-nhtsa-tesla-investigation-confirmation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Samuel Corum\/Getty Images Sean Duffy, Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Department of Transportation, said he would allow safety investigations into Tesla\u2019s advanced driving technology to proceed, possibly setting himself up for a clash with a top supporter of the president-elect. Duffy, a former Republican congressman, lobbyist, and Fox News personality, made the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-144142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}