Rule changes announced by the Trump administration this week could allow automakers to report fewer crashes involving self-driving cars, with Tesla potentially emerging as the main beneficiary. The Transportation Department announced Thursday it will no longer require automakers to report certain kinds of nonfatal crashes—but the exception will apply only to partial self-driving vehicles using so-called Level 2 systems, the kind Tesla deploys, per the AP. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had complained the old reporting rules cast his company in a bad light.
If Tesla and other automakers are required to report fewer crashes into a national database, that could make it more difficult for regulators to catch equipment defects and for the public to access information about a company's overall safety, auto industry analysts say. It will also allow Tesla to trumpet a cleaner record to sell more cars. "This will significantly reduce the number of crashes reported by Tesla," said auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid at Telemetry Insight. Added Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, noting that Tesla rival Waymo won't get an exception: "This is a win for Tesla, a loss for Waymo."
Tesla stock soared nearly 10% Friday on the rule changes. Wall Street analysts, and Musk critics, have said that Musk's role as an adviser to President Trump could put Tesla in position to benefit from any changes to regulations involving self-driving cars. Other carmakers such as Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, and BMW make vehicles with Level 2 systems that help keep cars in lanes, change speed, or brake automatically, but Tesla accounts for the vast majority on the road. Vehicles used by Waymo and others with systems that completely take over for the driver, called Automated Driving Systems (ADS), won't benefit from the change.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which enforces vehicle safety standards, said the new rules don't favor one type of self-driving system over another, and that the raft of changes announced will help all self-driving automakers. "No ADS company is hurt by these changes," the agency said in a statement. "With ADS, no driver is present, meaning stronger safety protocols are needed." The relaxed crash rule was part of several changes described by the DOT as a way to "streamline" paperwork and allow US companies to better compete with China in the race to make self-driving vehicles. Waymo declined to comment to the AP; Tesla didn't reply. More here.
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