The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has initiated an investigation into Tesla’s deployment of its new Cybercab, which lacks a steering wheel or pedals, on public roads in Austin, Texas. The investigation was launched shortly after Tesla introduced the first Cybercabs, despite federal vehicle safety regulations typically mandating manual controls such as brake pedals. The Department of Transportation has recently proposed removing these requirements for vehicles designed for autonomous operation, but the existing standards remain in force until updated.
NHTSA stated that it will examine the process and technical data Tesla relied upon when self-certifying the Cybercab as compliant with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). The agency will also assess the extent to which Tesla’s certification depended on determinations that certain federal motor standards are inapplicable to the Cybercab. This investigation follows a precedent set by NHTSA’s 2022 inquiry into Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company owned by Amazon, which also self-certified a robotaxi lacking traditional controls. The Zoox investigation led to a multi-year process before the company received a temporary exemption allowing limited commercial operation. Source