Overview
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a Special Order on Thursday that requires Tesla to answer 21 detailed questions under oath by September 30 about how its Cybercab complies with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
- NHTSA opened an audit the day Tesla began charging for commercial Cybercab rides on September 3 and has focused on the vehicle’s lack of conventional controls including a steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator and mirrors.
- The agency pressed Tesla to say whether temporary human controls were used to establish compliance and to explain how removing any such equipment would not violate the law that bars making required safety equipment inoperative.
- A central technical dispute centers on FMVSS No. 135, which currently requires service brakes activated by a foot control, a feature Cybercab does not have and which NHTSA has asked Tesla to justify in detail.
- The order carries heavy penalties for false or incomplete answers and could force Tesla to seek a Part 555 exemption, limit the Austin pilot, redesign systems, or face civil or criminal enforcement depending on the company’s sworn response.