US auto safety nominee calls for active oversight of self-driving cars
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's nominee to head the nation's auto safety regulator will argue on Wednesday that the agency must actively oversee self-driving vehicle technology, a potential sign of a tougher approach than some critics expected.
Jonathan Morrison, chief counsel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the first Trump administration, will testify to the U.S. Senate that autonomous vehicles offer potential benefits but also unique risks.
"NHTSA cannot sit back and wait for problems to arise with such developing technologies, but must demonstrate strong leadership," Morrison said in written testimony seen by Reuters.
The comments suggested NHTSA will continue to closely scrutinize self-driving vehicles. Some critics of the technology had expressed alarm over NHTSA staff cuts this year under a cost-cutting campaign led by Elon Musk, who was a close adviser to Trump and is CEO of self-driving automaker Tesla.
The Musk-Trump alliance prompted some critics to speculate that NHTSA would go easy on self-driving vehicle developers. But the relationship began to unravel in late May over Trump's spending plans, and the two are now locked in a feud.
NHTSA said last month it was seeking information from Tesla about social media videos of robotaxis and self-driving cars Tesla was testing in Austin, Texas. The videos were alleged to show one of the vehicles using the wrong lane and another speeding.
Since October, NHTSA has been investigating 2.4 million Tesla vehicles with full self-driving technology after four reported collisions, including a 2023 fatal crash.
"The technical and policy challenges surrounding
these new technologies must be addressed," Morrison's testimony said. "Failure to do so will result in products that the public
will not accept and the agency will not tolerate."
Other companies in the self-driving sector also were subjects of NHTSA investigations including Alphabet's Waymo, which last year faced reports its robotaxis may have broken traffic laws. Waymo in May recalled 1,200 self-driving vehicles, and the probe remains open.
Regulatory scrutiny increased after 2023 when a pedestrian was seriously injured by a GM Cruise self-driving car.
The first recorded death of a pedestrian related to self-driving technology was in 2018 in Tempe, Arizona.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and Cynthia Osterman)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
18 minutes ago
- The Star
FBM KLCI tracks regional gains, ringgit firms up
KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed higher on Tuesday, tracking regional gains, while the ringgit strengthened against the US dollar. The FBM KLCI closed 11.66 points higher, or 0.76%, at 1,538.64, its intraday high, after rebounding from a low of 1,528.63. Market breadth was negative, with 479 gainers versus 533 decliners, while 505 counters traded unchanged. Turnover stood at 2.9 billion shares valued at RM2.75bil. According to Reuters, the ringgit outperformed regional currencies. It rose 0.21% against the US dollar to 4.2277 and gained 0.26% against the Singapore dollar to 3.2804. The local currency also appreciated 0.42% against the euro to 4.8788, and strengthened 0.31% against the pound sterling to 5.6148. Dealers expect the local bourse to remain range-bound, with no fresh domestic catalysts in sight. The key index is likely to stay in a sideways or consolidating trend. Externally, investors are keeping a close watch on upcoming US economic data releases, including the PMI and ISM Services figures. Among the gainers on Bursa Malaysia, Nestle jumped 82 sen to RM89.80, Heineken rose 68 sen to RM24, Malaysian Pacific Industries added 52 sen to RM20.40, and PETRONAS Dagangan climbed 42 sen to RM21.84. On the downside, PPB Group slipped 42 sen to RM8.89, Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 18 sen to RM19.10, Hong Leong Industries fell 16 sen to RM12.62, and Can-One declined 15 sen to RM2.01. Meanwhile, stock market data showed that foreign investors sold a net RM206mil on Monday. Local institutions and retailers were net buyers, with RM176mil and RM29mil, respectively. Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.64%, while South Korea's Kospi closed up 1.6%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.68%, China's CSI300 added 0.8%, and the Shanghai Composite Index finished 0.96% higher.
The Star
18 minutes ago
- The Star
Thailand approves US$600mil deal for Swedish fighter jets
The US$600 million agreement for the Saab JAS 39 Gripens was first announced in June. - Photo: Reuters BANGKOK: Thailand approved the purchase of four Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets on Tuesday (Aug 5), the air force said, a week after reaching a ceasefire in deadly border clashes with Cambodia. The US$600 million agreement for the Saab JAS 39 Gripens was first announced in June as part of a long-term plan to modernise the air force's combat capabilities. During five days of clashes with Cambodia that left more than 40 people dead, Thailand used its fleet of F-16s to strike military targets across the border. It was the deadliest border fighting between the two countries in decades. 'The Cabinet has approved the purchase of JAS 39 Saab Gripen to strengthen the Royal Thai Air Force and protect Thailand's sovereignty,' the air force said on its official Facebook page. A procurement committee began deliberations in August 2024, concluding a 10-month review that favoured the Scandinavian-made jets over American F-16s. The kingdom already operates 11 older Gripens, as well as dozens of F-16s acquired in the 1980s. The country's total defence budget stands at 200 billion baht (S$8 billion), which includes allocations for the army, navy and air force. - AFP
The Star
18 minutes ago
- The Star
Oil edges down as traders weigh Trump's latest India threat
NEW DELHI: Oil extended a three-day drop, as investors weighed risks to Russian supplies, with US President Donald Trump stepping up a threat to penalise India for buying Moscow's crude. Brent traded near US$68 a barrel after shedding more than 6% over the previous three sessions, while West Texas Intermediate was just shy of US$66. Trump said he would be "substantially raising' the tariff on Indian exports to the US over the nation's purchases of Russian oil as part of a bid to force Moscow to agree a truce in Ukraine. New Delhi slammed the move as unjustified. Oil has been on a round trip, rising a few dollars above $70 and then falling back, as traders try to gauge whether Trump will follow through on his threats to punish Russian oil buyers. Crude prices have held up in recent months in part because inventory builds haven't appeared near vital pricing points and instead have been concentrated on China. "It's pretty hard to predict what's going to happen between Russian sanctions, Iranian sanctions, Chinese storage, and then the underlying fundamentals of the oil markets," BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Murray Auchincloss said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "It's sanctions on Russia, sanctions on Iran, Chinese behavior on storage. Those are the things that'll drive oil market prices moving forward.' The US president's latest warning to India came ahead of his Aug 8 deadline for Russia to reach a truce with Ukraine. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow on Wednesday, Tass reported. India emerged as the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne exports of crude following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, soaking up discounted barrels shunned by western nations and ramping up purchases from almost zero to about one-third of imports. China is also a major taker of Moscow's oil. The comments came just days after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies announced another bumper output hike, fully completing the return of one layer of supply cuts. The group will now have to decide whether to return more barrels in the coming months, despite forecasts of oversupply into the end of the year. Against that backdrop, both BP and Saudi Aramco said Tuesday that oil demand is holding up well so far. Aramco's Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said US tariffs are having a limited impact on oil demand, while consumption is being supported by gasoline and jet fuel use in the US and China. - Bloomberg
