The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) recently laid off numerous employees from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a significant portion of whom were from the autonomous vehicle risk assessment team.
The Verge reported that DOGE terminated over 30 NHTSA employees earlier this year. A former employee from NHTSA’s Vehicle Automation Safety Office warned that DOGE’s actions could undermine NHTSA’s ability to understand autonomous driving technology. Another ex-employee remarked that these layoffs would be “ironic” if they delayed Tesla’s autonomous vehicle plans.
The NHTSA has scrutinized Tesla multiple times regarding its autonomous driving features, including its full self-driving software and remote summon function. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and Autopilot driver assistance systems have resulted in more collisions on public roads than any other company.
These layoffs come just months after NHTSA unveiled a new framework that could potentially ease regulations on autonomous vehicles.
