The Trump team is prioritizing Elon Musk's key agenda, with reports suggesting that federal regulations significantly hindering Tesla's autonomous driving business may be relaxed, directly benefiting Musk.
On Monday, according to CCTV News, Bloomberg cited informed sources revealing that President-elect Trump's team plans to make &#34;building a federal framework for fully autonomous vehicles&#34; one of the priorities of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
If new regulations can make fully autonomous vehicles possible, then Tesla CEO Musk will directly benefit, as he has staked Tesla's future on autonomous driving and artificial intelligence technology.
Tesla is planning to deploy cars without steering wheels or pedals on a large scale, and Musk announced in October plans to mass-produce Robotaxi starting in 2026.
However, current federal regulations pose significant obstacles to Tesla's plans, including limits on the number of vehicles it can deploy. Musk stated during Tesla's third-quarter earnings call that he would leverage potential positions in the U.S. government to push for a more streamlined regulatory approach to approve the use of fully autonomous vehicles nationwide.
Following the news, the A-share market saw active performance in the autonomous driving concept, with Yitong Century rising nearly 10% and Lichuang Electronics experiencing a surge.
While the U.S. Department of Transportation can issue rules through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to facilitate the operation of autonomous vehicles, congressional legislation would pave the way for the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles. Informed sources indicated that a bipartisan legislative measure under discussion would establish federal regulations regarding autonomous vehicles.
Sources also revealed that the Trump team is seeking suitable candidates to lead the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a policy framework for regulating autonomous vehicles. One of the candidates being considered for Transportation Secretary is former Uber executive Emil Michael, who has spoken with Trump's team and potential staff.
It is worth mentioning that past efforts to establish federal legislation to regulate autonomous vehicles have faced obstacles.
Currently, the NHTSA allows manufacturers to deploy 2,500 autonomous vehicles annually under exemptions, but legislative efforts to increase this number to 100,000 have repeatedly failed.
A few years ago, during Trump's first term, a bill aimed at achieving this goal passed smoothly in the House of Representatives but was stalled in the Senate. The Biden administration attempted to merge this bill with other legislation in its first year, but it failed due to some manufacturers trying to include language in the bill that would prevent consumers from suing or initiating class actions

TSLA

Elon Musk and Tesla will directly benefit from this

- The Trump team is prioritizing a federal framework for fully autonomous vehicles, which could benefit Elon Musk and Tesla by easing regulations that currently hinder their self-driving initiatives.  
- Reports indicate that the Transportation Department aims to facilitate the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles, with potential bipartisan legislation under discussion to establish federal regulations.  
- Despite past legislative efforts facing obstacles, the Trump administration is seeking candidates to lead the Transportation Department and advance policies for regulating autonomous vehicles.

Report: The Trump administration will prioritize "fully autonomous driving."