Elon Musk’s Cybercab has no steering wheel, pedals or mirrors; US safety regulators open audit of about 1,000 cars over Tesla’s self-certification
Tesla’s race to deploy its Cybercab robotaxis is testing US vehicle-safety rules. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, this comes as the Elon Musk-led electric-car maker begins offering paid rides in two-seat vehicles that operate without a steering wheel, pedals or conventional mirrors.Just hours after an event in downtown Austin, Texas, marking the rollout, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had opened an audit of about 1,000 Cybercab vehicles, the Reuters report noted. The review will examine how Tesla determined that the cars comply with federal vehicle-safety regulations.US regulations on the commercialisation of vehicles that fail to meet federal safety standards were mostly created with human-driven cars in mind and require manual operation. However, these regulations have loopholes, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is well aware of them.Amid a crowd of Tesla fans and social media influencers in downtown Austin, Tesla added Cybercabs to its robotaxi fleet, which already operates the company’s best-selling Model Y SUVs. Tesla said Cybercab rides would be open to everyone, and executives discussed pricing plans.The golden-coloured Cybercab, fitted with butterfly doors, is central to Musk’s strategy of relying on self-driving software and robotics. That strategy has helped push Tesla’s stock valuation to about $1.4 trillion, exceeding the combined value of several of the world’s largest automakers.Unlike many other countries, the US does not generally require automakers to obtain regulatory clearance for a new vehicle model and its technology before putting it on public roads. Instead, manufacturers can deploy vehicles by self-certifying that they meet federal safety standards.“I don’t think there is a reasonable interpretation that can be made to suggest that the Cybercab can comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards,” Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer advocacy group told Reuters.At the same time, NHTSA is moving to change vehicle-safety standards and is separately drafting rules intended to accommodate driverless vehicles. Industry experts have said those changes are likely to take longer to take effect than the timeline Musk has promised for the Cybercab.Musk has previously shown a willingness to challenge regulations. “Tesla historically has tested limits and pushed boundaries on regulations,” said Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor and autonomous-vehicle safety expert. “I fully expect Tesla to test the limits.”Koopman said Musk could come up with a “creative interpretation” of vehicle regulation, say that Cybercabs comply with federal standards and “flood the market” with them. “That could take NHTSA or state regulators years to resolve. Meanwhile, Tesla could be operating on public roads.”
A vehicle without conventional controls
The Cybercab manufacturing process began in April, and Musk has promised that the production rate will increase exponentially either late this year or early next year. In addition, Musk said the Cybercab would cost less than $30,000 when it was introduced in 2024.Furthermore, Tesla has started providing its customers with a robotaxi service in Texas and Florida; however, this service is only available with the Model Y SUV. The vehicles are autonomous; however, they still have manual controls, which certain regulations and manufacturers mandate.The Cybercab’s uniqueness lies in its lack of controls found in conventional vehicles. Specialists have raised concerns about the autonomous driving capabilities of vehicles manufactured by Tesla.Tesla has said its Full Self-Driving software, which powers the Cybercab, is up to 10 times safer than human drivers. The company’s Austin robotaxi service has also operated without a fatal accident. However, Reuters interviews with several former Tesla employees who trained the company’s self-driving software found that it continued to struggle with basic driving manoeuvres.“No public information about Tesla’s capabilities suggests that Tesla is anywhere close to being able to safely and reliably deploy an automated driving system over the wide range of conditions that would be required for a vehicle without conventional controls,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor focused on autonomous-driving regulation.The issue concerns federal safety standards for automobiles drafted for manually operated cars. The issue arises because cars with automated driving systems lack some controls needed to comply with the standards.
A path to public roads
For vehicles that do not comply with federal safety standards, NHTSA has an exemption process that allows automakers to seek permission for limited deployment. That route, however, currently caps deployment at 2,500 vehicles a year.Tesla’s engineering chief Lars Moravy said on social media platform X earlier this year that the Cybercab would not be subject to that cap, although he did not explain why. NHTSA has previously said Tesla had not applied for an exemption.That has led to speculation that Tesla may have instead chosen to self-certify the Cybercab, as Koopman suggested.A precedent already exists involving another autonomous vehicle without conventional driving controls. Amazon’s Zoox, which is developing a vehicle with two bench seats facing each other and no driving controls, also attempted to use the self-certification route.Zoox declared its car safe to operate, but it retracted that statement when NHTSA decided to investigate. About a year later, in July, Zoox received a government exemption.Any dispute between NHTSA and Tesla over the Cybercab’s self-certification could eventually end up in court, according to three former senior NHTSA officials who spoke to Reuters before Thursday’s event. “It does happen from time to time and NHTSA, importantly, has not always won these cases,” one of the former officials said.
