Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R), former U.S. president and Republican presidential candidate, during a campaign rally at the scene of the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, October 5, 2024. Join Donald Trump.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Tesla shares soared on Monday after reports that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team plans to make the federal framework for regulating self-driving cars a top priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Tesla shares rose 7.98% in pre-market trading in the U.S. as of 6:11 a.m. ET after the publication of a Bloomberg News report citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
CNBC could not independently verify the report and reached out to Trump’s team and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Department of Transportation division tasked with overseeing self-driving technology, for comment.
Musk was a key business figure who pushed for Trump’s return to the White House ahead of this month’s election. The tech billionaire now stands to benefit from the close relationship he has forged with the Republican politician who first served as president from 2017 to 2021.
President Trump last week nominated Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), ending government “bureaucracy” and “overreach.” He said he would ease regulations and cut “wasteful” spending. .
A federal framework to regulate self-driving cars would be a big boon for Musk’s Tesla. Tesla has been promising fully self-driving cars for several years, but so far it has not been able to deliver a car that can drive itself without a human at the wheel. .
Tesla’s long-term vision is to produce autonomous vehicles, so-called robotaxis, that can drive people around without the need for human supervision.
Last month, Musk unveiled Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi. It’s a concept car called the CyberCab, a $30,000 two-seater without a steering wheel or pedals.
Tesla has already lost out to Google’s Waymo Ventures in the robotaxi race, but Waymo is one of the few companies to successfully put self-driving cars on public roads.
Musk spoke at an event unveiling Tesla’s CyberCab and RoboVan vehicles, and said Tesla will introduce “unsupervised” fully self-driving technology in its Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles in Texas and California next year. He said he hopes to get it up and running.
Fully Self-Driving (FSD) is Tesla’s premium driver assistance system and is currently available in “supervised” versions of Tesla electric vehicles. FSD currently requires a human driver to be at the wheel and able to steer or brake at any time.
President Trump’s transition team is reportedly seeking a policy leader for the Department of Transportation to develop a federal regulatory framework for self-driving cars, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg reports that these include former Uber executive Emile Michael, Republican Congressmen Sam Graves of Missouri and Garrett Graves of Louisiana.
