Tesla faces new federal safety probe over steering-wheel-free Cybercabs after Austin launch
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators have opened an investigation into whether Tesla’s new steering-wheel-free Cybercabs comply with U.S. safety rules, a day after the company launched its driverless ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would review whether the two-seat vehicles meet federal standards, which generally require cars to be equipped with steering wheels, mirrors and brake pedals. The agency said it plans to audit the self-certification process Tesla used to place the vehicles on the road.
Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, kicked off the Cybercab service Thursday with a promotional event in Austin, sending dozens of the futuristic vehicles into city streets. By Friday morning, however, the agency’s inquiry had tempered Wall Street enthusiasm, and Tesla shares fell more than 5 percent to $357.38, reversing much of the previous day’s rally.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before Thursday’s launch, Tesla said it had relied on a self-certification procedure to ensure its Cybercabs complied with applicable safety rules. In its filing, NHTSA said it would now examine the process and technical data behind that certification to determine whether the vehicles fully comply.
The launch represents the start of Musk’s broader plan to expand a low-cost, fully driverless ride-hailing service across the nation. Tesla has said it intends to weave Cybercabs, which have no manual controls for passengers, into its existing robotaxi operation. That service has been running in Austin for more than a year and has already begun offering rides in five other cities across Texas and Florida.
The probe adds to a growing list of federal investigations into Tesla’s autonomous-driving technology. NHTSA already has been looking into the role of Tesla’s software in crashes involving fog, sun glare and other low-visibility conditions, including one fatal collision with a pedestrian. Another inquiry concerns dozens of incidents in which Teslas using partial self-driving software blew through red lights or drove the wrong way, sometimes hitting other cars. A third review is examining whether Tesla violated reporting requirements by failing to notify regulators about crashes in a timely manner.
For Tesla, the timing is delicate. The company has been pitching self-driving technology as its next major growth engine, and Musk has promised that a large-scale robotaxi network will reshape how people travel. But the new federal scrutiny underscores a central regulatory challenge: Whether vehicles built without traditional manual controls can be cleared for public roads before the rules that govern conventional cars have fully adapted to driverless systems.
The outcome of the audit could influence not only Cybercab expansion plans but also how other companies approach deployment of purpose-built autonomous vehicles across the country.