According to media reports quoting insiders, members of us president Donald Trump's transition team told advisors that they plan to make the federal legal framework for self-driving cars a priority for the Department of Transportation. This indicates that the Trump administration intends to relax regulations on self-driving cars.

Under current federal regulations, companies looking to deploy cars without steering wheels or brakes on a large scale—Tesla being one of them—face significant obstacles.

While the Department of Transportation can issue rules through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to facilitate the running of self-driving cars, congressional legislation would pave the way for the large-scale adoption of self-driving cars. Insiders indicated that a bipartisan legislative measure under discussion would establish federal regulations regarding self-driving cars.

Insiders also revealed that the Trump team is looking for suitable candidates to lead the Department of Transportation to create a policy framework for regulating self-driving cars.

One of the candidates for transportation secretary that Trump is considering is former uber technologies executive Emil Michael, who has already spoken with Trump's team and potential staff.

Additionally, Republican representatives Sam Graves from Missouri and Garrett Graves from Louisiana are also potential candidates.

Efforts to establish federal legislation to regulate self-driving cars have faced obstacles in recent years.

Currently, NHTSA allows manufacturers to deploy 2,500 self-driving cars annually under a waiver. Previous legislative efforts to increase this number to 0.1 million vehicles have repeatedly failed.

A few years ago, during Trump's first term, a bill aimed at achieving this goal passed in the House but stalled in the Senate. The Biden administration attempted to merge this bill with other legislation in its first year, but it failed due to some manufacturers trying to include language that would prevent consumers from suing or initiating class action lawsuits.

Musk will directly benefit.

The Trump administration's relaxation of self-driving rules will directly benefit Tesla CEO and major Trump benefactor Elon Musk. Musk has become an important figure in Trump's core circle. He has pinned Tesla's future on self-driving technology and ai.

Musk announced in October of this year a plan to begin mass production of Tesla's self-driving robot taxis without driver control starting in 2026. However, current regulations in the usa pose significant obstacles to Musk's so-called Cybercab plan, including limits on its deployment.

Last month, Musk called for national regulations during Tesla's third-quarter earnings call to allow self-driving cars to operate on usa roads without traditional driver control. Musk also stated that he would use a potential position in the usa government to advocate for a more streamlined regulatory approach to approve the use of fully autonomous driving cars nationwide.

Last week, Trump appointed Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the proposed "Department of Government Efficiency." Trump, in a statement, said that the "Department of Government Efficiency" would "pave the way for dismantling bureaucratic agencies, reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens and wasteful spending, and reorganize federal institutions."