The new administration of the White House led by President Donald Trump seems determined to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles and aims to improve the regulations governing these vehicles.
According to “Bloomberg”, Trump intends to prioritize the establishment of federal rules for fully autonomous vehicles within the Department of Transportation, for which he appointed Sean Duffy, considering that the current rules are deemed too restrictive.
Furthermore, the current regulations allow manufacturers to put a maximum of 2,500 autonomous vehicles on the road per year, which is certainly seen as a brake on the development of this type of vehicle.
In this way, the reduction of regulations that impose a brake on the development and commercialization of autonomous vehicles will certainly benefit Elon Musk and Tesla, which plans to begin mass production of autonomous vehicles in 2026.
The brand led by Musk, a strong supporter of the new US president, recently unveiled two models of autonomous driving, the Cybercab and the Robovan, which the electric vehicle company intends to make available to private customers as well as fleets.
In the case of the Cybercab, Elon Musk stated that production should begin in 2026, although he considers that the date may be optimistic, especially since the model needs to be approved by the relevant authorities before sales can start. He mentioned that the fully autonomous vehicle should have a price of less than US$ 30,000, or less than €28,000.
Another of Tesla’s bets on autonomous driving is the Robovan, a prototype that anticipates a fully electric bus that can accommodate up to 20 passengers or be used to transport goods.
In this regard, it is expected that in the coming times, new developments and a legislative proposal for less restrictive regulations aimed at autonomous vehicles will emerge, which could further boost the development of this industry in the US.
