National Highway Traffic Safety Administration head Jonathan Morrison has told the press that "it doesn't make sense" for autonomous cars to have manual controls like brake pedals and steering wheels. Our first impression is that this sounds scary; how would a robotaxi user bring the vehicle to a safe stop in the event of some sort of malfunction? Morrison told CNBC, "If you're developing a vehicle that is designed never to be driven by a human operator, it doesn't make sense to require manual controls." This comes after the Department of Transport said on September 4, 2025, that it was planning to relax the rules applying to robotaxis and other self-driving cars, making it easier for them to reach the road and with less equipment.
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As noted by Carscoops, Tesla is set to reap the greatest rewards if these changes are implemented. Its Cybercab robotaxi has no manual operating controls, and Tesla said late last year that it would add a steering wheel and brake pedal if necessary, according to Bloomberg. The following month, prototypes with steering wheels had been seen testing with human drivers, suggesting Tesla was unsure how the NHTSA would rule; administrator Morrison's comments seem to suggest the investment was unnecessary. These changes have been floated for over a year now, and if implemented, companies like Tesla, Waymo, Uber, Zoox, and others investing in robotaxis will have not only an easier path to certification, but a huge reduction in research, development, and manufacturing costs. Did Tesla CEO Elon Musk use his campaign donation and relationship with President Trump to encourage easier-to-meet NHTSA requirements? That's unclear, but either way, Tesla still has a lot to gain by skipping manual controls.
The NHTSA Is Taking A Big Risk, And Perhaps So Is Tesla
It may not seem like much to add a brake pedal to a car with brakes, or a steering wheel to one with a steering rack, and given the relative simplicity of drive-by-wire systems, connecting physical controls wouldn't be a big deal, nor would writing the software to operate them. But when the self-driving race is being contested by multiple entities, and when these entities each have plans for millions of robotaxis worldwide, a penny saved here and a dollar saved there can be worth hundreds of millions, or billions, of dollars by the end of the year. Those savings can be allocated to advancing self-driving technology, and they can be the difference between profitability and bankruptcy. But therein lies the problem - safety should be the priority, not profit. While we'd like to assume that megacorporations racing towards autonomy have our best interests at heart, it seems foolish not to have a physical failsafe that passengers can use if necessary, even if specific software and other safety redundancies/contingencies are baked in. To be fair, a vehicle with drive-by-wire controls has no physical connection to those components anyway
But Tesla may also be leaving money on the table by not fitting physical controls and selling vehicles with them to private buyers who may want to drive sometimes and let the Cybercab earn money as a robotaxi on other occasions. In a perfect world, something designed never to be driven by a human needs no physical controls, but it's still going to feel disconcerting seeing a true robotaxi on the road and knowing that its safe operation depends on software. Hopefully, the road safety stats once robotaxis become commonplace will prove our skepticism misplaced.
from Autoblog News https://ift.tt/DKRlJib
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