No sooner had Tesla begun a new chapter in its self-driving taxi project than it found itself facing an unexpected regulatory test. Two days after the limited commercial operation of the Cybercab in Austin, Texas, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened a formal audit of the vehicle's certification process, focusing on how Tesla demonstrated the vehicle's compliance with federal safety standards.
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Investigation into the accreditation process
According to an official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration document, the audit does not mean at this stage that the agency has concluded that there is a defect in the CyberCab or ordered it to be shut down. Rather, it aims to examine the process and technical data that Tesla relied on when it announced that the car met all applicable federal safety standards. The review includes up to about 1,000 CyberCab vehicles, at a time when the company has announced plans to gradually expand the number of cars and the areas in which it operates.
The sensitivity of the file lies in the radically different design of the car. The CyberCab is designed to operate without a human driver, and therefore does not have traditional, permanently installed controls, such as a steering wheel, brake and accelerator pedals, and mirrors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes these characteristics make it essential to thoroughly examine how Tesla handles the requirements of federal safety standards for motor vehicles.
An American system based on self-certification
One key issue is that the United States , in this area, relies on a self-certification system rather than waiting for prior approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for each model. The agency explains that the manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that the vehicle complies with applicable safety standards, and that the registration of the company or its vehicles with the agency does not in itself constitute government approval of the product.
According to the investigation document, Tesla informed the agency that it certified the CyberCab based on its compliance with all applicable federal safety standards. Therefore, the scrutiny is now focused on the legal and technical basis the company used to reach this conclusion, particularly regarding standards that assume the presence of a human driver and traditional controls.
Why are the current rules not sufficient?
Ironically, the regulatory body itself is moving towards updating the rules to accommodate self-driving vehicles. Last January, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its framework for autonomous vehicles aims to allow the commercial deployment of vehicles designed to operate without traditional controls such as a steering wheel and brake pedals.
The agency also later initiated regulatory procedures to amend certain safety standards, including the requirement for a handbrake pedal for vehicles designed exclusively to operate with automated driving systems.
But the existence of a trend to change the rules does not mean that the current requirements have disappeared, and the crux of the issue for CyberCab is whether a company can launch a vehicle with a futuristic design before the rules governing this design have been updated. The investigation will attempt to answer this question by reviewing Tesla's certifications, technical data, and its interpretation of the existing standards.
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