Trump team plans to ease U.S. rules for self-driving cars in boost for Tesla: report

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has told advisors that they intend to make a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles one of the Transportation Department’s priorities, Bloomberg reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The new rules are expected to benefit Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) chief executive Elon Musk, who has arguably been the most prominent Trump backer, and spent over $130 million on the campaign.

Musk has also been named to head up a new Department of Government Efficiency, aimed at slashing excess regulations, dismantling bureaucracy, and restructuring some federal agencies.

After ditching plans to build an affordable EV priced under $30,000, Musk has shifted Tesla’s (TSLA) focus towards self-driving technology.

Last month, the world’s richest man laid out the case for robotaxis in general, and unveiled a two-seat Cybercab prototype with no steering wheel or pedals. Current federal rules pose serious challenges for companies looking to release vehicles without steering wheels or foot pedals in significant numbers.

According to the report, the Trump team is looking for policy leaders for the Transportation Department to build a self-driving vehicle regulatory framework.

There are also discussions happening in early stages in Congress about a bipartisan measure that would create federal rules around autonomous vehicles, the report added.

Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allows carmakers to deploy 2,500 self-driving vehicles per year under a granted exemption. Legislative attempts to increase that number to as much as 100,000 have previously failed.

One of the candidates under consideration for Transportation secretary is reportedly former executive with Uber (UBER) Emil Michael. Michael, a Trump donor who knows Elon Musk socially, was the vice president of business at the ride hailing giant between 2013 and 2017.

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Seeking Alpha request for comment.

Dear readers: We recognize that politics often intersects with the financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to join the separate political discussion.