Federal regulators have opened an investigation into whether Tesla’s new Cybercab is compliant with safety regulations, even as they began being tested on New York City streets in September. The Cybercabs are fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) without a steering wheel, brake pedals or side- and rear-view mirrors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened the investigation into the shiny gold Cybercabs in September. Tesla’s $1.4 trillion stock market valuation is largely dependent on the success of its taxi service, according to The New York Times.
Federal regulators allow carmakers to certify their own vehicles for compliance with safety standards, subject to review. Among other things, regulations require cars to have brakes and steering wheels. Tesla may have decided that some regulations do not apply to Cybercabs, the agency said. NHTSA “will consider the extent to which Tesla’s certification depended on determinations that certain federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) are inapplicable to the Cybercab.”
Zoox, a division of Amazon, operates small self-driving vans in Las Vegas and San Francisco that do not have standard driver controls. In July, the company obtained an exemption from federal regulators to put up to 2,500 of its vehicles on U.S. roads for two years. Tesla has not yet obtained a similar waiver.
A “compliance and safety” document on Tesla’s website indicates that some Cybercabs may have brake pedals and are capable of manual operation. There is no mention of steering wheels. NHTSA officials have said they are considering new rules to accommodate self-driving vehicles. But they have asked automakers to get permission before widely introducing new technologies that do not comply with current federal regulations. The agency’s rules allow automakers to put small numbers of noncompliant vehicles on public roads for research and testing.
New York City’s Department of Transportation confirmed Tesla has been testing a “supervised” self-driving system, which allows a car to operate itself while also giving the driver the ability to take control of the vehicle at any point. Earlier this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul reversed a decision to allow a limited deployment of Waymo cars outside of NYC. Under current state law, a human driver is required to operate a car and to keep a hand on the steering wheel at all times. The city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) said its rules don’t currently allow for the operation of AVs for for-hire services.
“We take the arrival of [AV] technology very seriously, and we are closely monitoring AV developments in other cities, including the operational challenges and impacts on safety, congestion, emergency management, and driver pay,” TLC Chair Midori Valdivia said. “Not least among our concerns is the potential impact on the livelihoods of the 180,000 hardworking drivers who keep our city moving.”
The state Department of Motor Vehicles said Tesla had not yet applied for an autonomous vehicle testing permit, as of mid-September.
Sources: The New York Times, Gothamist
