Trump transition team recommends ditching crash report law for AVs

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team may ditch a rule requiring automakers to report autonomous vehicle (AV) crash data.

Driving the news: According to documents seen by Reuters, a group within the transition team, responsible for designing a 100-day plan for automotive policy, recommended canceling the rule over its “excessive” data collection.

• The rule, implemented in 2021, affects both AVs and cars with driver-assistance systems switched on within 30 seconds of the accident.

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has used the policy to examine information from 2,700 crashes over the last three years.

• The data has also led to 10 investigations against six automakers and nine recalls involving four brands.

Zooming in: While the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobby group representing a majority of car manufacturers in the U.S., has also criticized the rule, Tesla would likely benefit the most if the policy were removed.

• Tesla vehicles were involved in 1,500 of the 2,700 crash reports received by the NHTSA, as well as 40 of the 45 fatal crashes. Three of the 10 investigations resulting from the data were directed at the electric vehicle brand as well.

• The company’s outsized representation in the data may be due to its data-collecting methods. Tesla reportedly collects and submits a larger number of crash reports than other automakers.

• Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self Driving systems are also more widely available than similar driver assistance services offered by other manufacturers.

Zooming out: That said, Tesla is not the only company to face federal inquiry over the data.

• Cruise, a robotaxi firm formerly funded by General Motors, was fined $1.5 million for failing to submit an appropriate crash report in Oct. of last year.

• The automaker pulled funding from Cruise earlier this week, although it plans to continue developing autonomous systems in-house.

Looking ahead: It is not clear whether the Trump administration will accept its transition team’s recommendation to cancel the 2021 rule or what, if anything, would replace it. However, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has called for a federal approval process for self-driving cars and vowed to pursue the idea as part of the President-elect’s cabinet.

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