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Car safety experts at NHTSA, which regulates Tesla, axed by DOGE (arstechnica.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The TL;DR in one quote:

Job cuts at the US traffic safety regulator instigated by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency disproportionately hit staff assessing self-driving risks, hampering oversight of technology on which the world’s richest man has staked the future of Tesla.

An interesting quote from a Tesla manager:

“Letting Doge fire those in the autonomous division is sheer madness—we should be lobbying to add people to NHTSA,” said one manager at Tesla. They “need to be developing a national framework for AVs, otherwise Tesla doesn’t have a prayer for scale in FSD or robotaxis.”

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

Pretty much this. The US will now end up with an automotive ecosystem (including fun things like ambulances, firetrucks, buses, etc) where everything is built as cheaply and dangerously as possibly profitable (see: Pinto et al). Sure, the autos we build here aren't going to be able to be sold anywhere with a functioning regulatory body, but that's OK because we managed to save $20 on each car we build by not having to include pesky things like airbags or a steering column that won't impale you in a crash or a body that won't telescope into you and crush you.