Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made significant personnel cuts, reducing the staff of the unit within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that oversees the safety of autonomous vehicles.
According to a report by the Washington Post, three out of approximately seven employees in this specialized unit were let go as part of broader workforce reductions at the NHTSA. These cuts are part of a larger initiative affecting various federal agencies.
NHTSA, tasked with ensuring road safety in the United States, is losing about 10% of its staff due to a mix of layoffs and buyout offers. While the fired employees from the autonomous vehicle unit emphasized that they did not feel targeted because of their focus on driverless car safety, they expressed concern that the cuts could diminish oversight of emerging technologies.
The reduction in personnel from this specialized team is part of a more extensive effort to reduce government staffing levels, which includes the elimination of various positions across the Department of Transportation. NHTSA, which employed nearly 800 individuals as of January, is now facing the loss of 70 to 80 staff members, potentially hindering its ability to regulate new technologies such as Tesla’s autonomous driving systems.
The NHTSA, though a smaller agency, plays a crucial role in managing vehicle safety, including the growing influence of driver assistance technologies. These technologies, which include systems like Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, have drawn increased scrutiny, especially following investigations into crashes involving these systems.
The reduction of specialized staff overseeing autonomous vehicles may have implications for how NHTSA can evaluate and regulate safety standards for self-driving technologies. With the autonomous vehicle industry growing rapidly, regulatory bodies like NHTSA face the challenge of adapting their frameworks to address new technologies that do not always align with existing safety rules.
As the workforce reduction continues, many safety advocates have voiced concerns that the agency might struggle to keep pace with these advancements. However, officials from the Transportation Department and NHTSA have not yet commented on how these cuts will specifically affect the agency’s ongoing work related to autonomous vehicle safety.
CNBC, the Washington Post, and Reuters contributed to this report.
