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New Law Could Let Tesla Ship Cars With No Brake Pedals Installed

posted by hubie on Monday July 06, @09:00AM   Printer-friendly

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

https://www.slashgear.com/2204680/dot-law-change-no-brake-pedals-self-driving-cars/

Autonomous vehicles have been a big talking point in the United States as Waymo spreads to more cities and Tesla's Cybercab service launch looms overhead. In June 2026, the Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed changes to federal regulations that would allow the growing number of autonomous vehicles in the United States to forgo brake pedals.

As it stands, automakers building autonomous vehicles without brake pedals or other components must request an exemption from the federal government — and if granted, these vehicles must be limited to 2,500 per year. This proposed change will get autonomous vehicles on the road faster, with fewer obstacles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is on board, with Administrator Jonathan Morrison stating that autonomous vehicles are the greatest innovation "since the Model T."

"NHTSA is tearing down pointless barriers to innovative designs while strengthening the fundamental safety requirements that matter and holding AV developers accountable for safe performance," Morrison said (via TechCrunch). The public has until July 27th to comment on the proposal before the DOT officially approves these changes.

Right now, most autonomous vehicles have a steering wheel, accelerator, and brake pedals, but even popular brands like Waymo have been considering ditching these components — federal regulations are the only thing in the way. One company that would benefit greatly from the DOT's changes is Tesla, given the upcoming Cybercab.

Currently, Tesla's robotaxi service has remained a small operation in Austin, Texas, with human monitors in the front seat. CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly blamed regulatory red tape for the delayed rollout of the Cybercab, which was first revealed at the "We, Robot" event in 2024. The NHTSA has been consistently investigating Tesla's Full Self-Driving mode for false claims and possible shortcomings, which could be prolonging the process. California has also claimed that FSD is engaging in false advertising and demanded that it change the name.

Early Cybercab prototypes featured no steering wheel or pedals, as well as a cabin with just two rear seats. The first production Cybercab came out of the Giga Texas facility in April 2026, despite a delay in the unsupervised driving feature. Now, a new Tesla document states that the controversial vehicle typically won't have a steering wheel, accelerator, or brake pedals. This means Tesla will need DOT's changes to go through to avoid more delays in its Cybercab services.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06, @04:32PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06, @04:32PM (#1447364)

    Crime rate is a very strange and US-centric problem.

    I mean, if you have a society where you can't travel past the suburbs because of crime, things are pretty fscked up.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by mcgrew on Monday July 06, @06:49PM (1 child)

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Monday July 06, @06:49PM (#1447389) Homepage Journal

    If you have a society where you can't travel past the suburbs because of crime, things are pretty fscked up.

    We have a society where people are being brainwashed into unreasoning fear by the mainstream media, who are all owned by the 1% and the .01% who all want America to become a police state.

    --
    The Stupid-Ass Voter Evisceration act: SAVE Trump and his family from prison

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06, @09:33PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06, @09:33PM (#1447418)

      This ^^^

      GP wrote:
      > Crime rate is too high to use in the areas dense enough to require mass transit.

      I say that GP has allowed himself to be scared out of his wits, for no good reason at all, other than perhaps being swayed by misinformation repeated over and over?

      Millions of NYC folk use mass transit daily and the crime rate is lower than the hypothetical accident rate would be...if all those people could somehow fit on the roads in cars (they couldn't--there are not enough roads to accommodate NY City commuters in private cars or taxis.)

      Looking at 2025 data:
      https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/safer-subways-governor-hochul-announces-subway-crime-fell-historic-lows-summer [ny.gov]

      Governor Hochul today announced that subway crime fell to record lows this summer. Overall transit crime from June 1 to August 31 was down nearly 10 percent from 2024 and 16.8 percent from the summer of 2019. Year-to-date, transit crime is at record lows, while subway ridership is up 9 percent, with over 311 million rides taken during the summer months. Transit felony assaults have been down every month this summer when compared to 2024. Together, June, July and August have had 119 felony assaults — compared to 150 last year — a reduction of 21 percent. There were 0.38 assaults per one million subway riders between June 1 and August 31. Accounting for increases in ridership, there were 1.59 major crimes per one million subway rides this summer, down 30 percent from 2022 and in line with pre-pandemic lows.