Trump administration proposes axing brake pedal requirement for AVs to promote Tesla

The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed new changes to federal vehicle regulations that would allow companies to skip including brakes on “vehicles designed to be driven only.” with automated driving systems.”

The proposal, if adopted, would remove a major regulatory hurdle for companies like Tesla and Zoox, which build cars that aim to be fully autonomous, without a steering wheel or pedals. The public will have 30 days to comment on the proposal before the DOT decides whether to approve the change.

This is the latest in a series of proposed changes to auto regulations from the Trump DoT. Late last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed removing a number of requirements from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) surrounding wiper and defogger systems, and tire covers.

President Biden also worked this way while in office. During his administration, NHTSA proposed and eventually finalized a rule that allowed autonomous vehicles to operate without steering wheels.

Currently, any company that makes an autonomous vehicle that lacks parts required by the FMVSS must request an exemption from the federal government. Even if the exemption is granted, regulations limit how many such tax-free vehicles can be on the road.

Eliminating requirements for parts like brake pedals will allow companies to get autonomous vehicles on the road sooner, according to NHTSA.

“We are on the cusp of the biggest technological revolution since the Model T,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said in a statement. “If we want America to move forward, we must rethink our regulatory framework. That’s why under Secretary Sean Duffy’s AV Framework, NHTSA is breaking down unreasonable barriers to new designs while strengthening important safety requirements and holding AV developers accountable for safe operation.”

Tesla has spent the last few years developing a two-seater vehicle it calls the Cybercab that is intended to operate without a steering wheel or pedals. The company has never applied for an exemption from the FMVSS standards that require those controls. Instead, CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly said that his company will roll out cars across the country once regulation is approved.

Meanwhile, Tesla has spent the past year operating a small robot service in Austin, Texas. The company started the service with safety drivers in the front seats, but gradually removed those drivers, leaving the cars to operate “unsupervised.” The company admitted to NHTSA that it uses teleoperators to monitor and, in some cases, remotely steer vehicles at low speeds after crashes or to avoid obstacles.

Zoox, owned by Amazon, applied for and was granted an exemption from FMVSS standards last year to demonstrate a purpose-built robot. The company has since applied for, and is waiting for, another exemption to use that robot commercially.

Companies like Waymo, which use retrofitted or modified versions of conventional vehicles (like the Jaguar I-Pace), have been able to use as many robots as they want since they already have manual controls.