HELLFIRE Usual preface : sharing strictly and solely from a Security / privacy / selfdriving POV to the exclusion of everything else : https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/11/doge_nhtsa_audit/ In February, Elon’s Musketeers at President Trump’s cost-trimming DOGE operation turned up at the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates the kinds of self-driving cars the billionaire wants to build. DOGE promptly culled four percent of the federal watchdog’s staff. The transport safety agency, NHTSA, issued no fewer than 50 recall notices for the Tesla tycoon’s cars between 2021 and 2024. Some described simple issues Tesla could fix with an over-the-air software update. Others, such as bodywork falling off Cybertrucks, required a physical recall. NHTSA and Tesla have also beefed over the automaker’s “full self-driving” mode for its vehicles, which critics say is nothing of the sort. It’s now been reported that the sackings at NHTSA disproportionately targeted staff whose jobs involved regulating self-driving cars, and even some senior Tesla staff think that was a bad idea. … The watchdog proposed at the end of last year a national framework for testing and overseeing the safety and abilities of autonomous vehicles, like the ones Tesla wants to make and sell and even operate as Waymo-style fleets of driver-less robo-taxis. The quoted manager said the regulator needs to finish up and publish that framework, giving manufacturers a clear view of the regulatory hurdles they need to clear in the autonomous space, or Tesla “doesn’t have a prayer” for scaling up its self-driving ambitions. Layoffs at NHTSA could set back or water down that framework. … Whatever DOGE is doing at NHTSA and elsewhere, its deeds are now under the microscope of Uncle Sam’s Government Accounting Office (GAO). It’s said an audit into the team began in March and is focusing on DOGE’s adherence to data protection and privacy rules, specifically the “potential or actual misuse of agency systems or data.” The GAO probe is apparently reviewing DOGE’s activities at the Departments of Labor, Education, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services, as well as at the Treasury and the Social Security Administration. … Regards
Somewhat-Reticent Refusing to allow “self-driving” Darwin competition - only fired? (Only 4%?) In other regions customers who complain about self-killing-driving are lucky if they’re only sued (for defamation).