Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) fired about 30 members of the Nationwide Freeway and Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) in February, and plenty of of them have been a part of a division that assesses the dangers of self-driving automobiles, according to the Financial Times.
One employee laid off from the NHTSA’s so-called “workplace of car automation security” informed the FT that DOGE’s actions may “weaken NHTSA’s potential to know self-driving applied sciences.” One other employee mentioned it’d be “ironic” if the firings would decelerate Tesla’s plans for autonomous autos.
The firings additionally got here simply months after the NHTSA released a new framework that would ease regulation on self-driving automobiles, however in alternate, corporations would want to share extra knowledge with the regulator.