President Donald Trump's pick to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Jonathan Morrison, has called for more oversight on autonomous vehicles.
What Happened: Morrison is expected to testify to the U.S. Senate, likely to advocate for tougher oversight on autonomous driving, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Morrison is expected to highlight not only the potential benefits of autonomous driving but also the risk factors involved with the technology, the report suggests.
"NHTSA cannot sit back and wait for problems to arise with such developing technologies, but must demonstrate strong leadership," Morrison's testimony to the Senate, obtained by Reuters, said.
Why It Matters: Morrison's tougher approach could pose challenges to the development of autonomous vehicles, especially Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), which earlier enjoyed a boost after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had announced the DOT’s plans to ease regulations related to autonomous driving.
Morrison has been a critic of the EV giant in the past after issuing a cease-and-desist letter to the company over the Tesla Model 3's crash test safety rating in 2019.
The approach could also spell tougher scrutiny of Tesla's Robotaxi and FSD tech, which is already being probed by the NHTSA over the autonomous cab's possible traffic violations in Austin during last month's launch event.
Elsewhere, Trump's budget cuts are expected to impact U.S. EV makers, as the companies could lose a major revenue stream in the form of ZEV or Zero-Emission Vehicle credits.
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