Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency is gutting the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has a long history of investigating the unelected White House advisor's EV maker Tesla.

As the Washington Post reports, between 70 and 80 people — or roughly ten percent of the small agency's headcount — will be cut. As its name suggests, it's tasked with ensuring drivers and passengers are safe on American roads. The even smaller team that oversees autonomous vehicle regulations will be roughly cut in half.

The NHTSA had previously investigated Tesla over its infamous driver-assistance software. While Tesla has reported more than 1,500 crash reports to safety regulators as of last year, the Trump transition team announced in December that it would drop the reporting requirement — early indicators that the president and Musk would be coming after the agency.

DOGE's gutting of the NHTSA is yet another example of Musk cutting down the regulators who have gone after one of his companies, highlighting his considerable sway in the White House and his unabashed willingness to use that influence to benefit his business interests.

For years now, Tesla had its customers test its flawed driver-assistance feature misleadingly called "Full Self-Driving" on public roads. It remains to be seen how a gutted NHTSA will affect Tesla's future rollouts of software updates. For one, Musk has promised to deliver an "unsupervised" version of FSD before the end of the year, which could result in even more close calls and collisions.

Even before DOGE stormed through the federal government, the NHTSA has been criticized for its lax rules surrounding software like FSD.

The NHTSA also oversees vehicle recalls, many of which affected Tesla vehicles. The Cybertruck alone was recalled seven times in 2024.

In short, it was only a matter of time until Musk and DOGE went after the regulator.

"NHTSA has been a thorn in Musk’s side for over the last decade and he’s grappled with almost every three-letter agency in the Beltway," Wall Street automotive analyst Daniel Ives told the Associated Press last week. "That’s all created what looks to be a really big soap opera in 2025."

It's not just Tesla that Musk is trying to clear the path for. Earlier this week, news emerged that DOGE would also be gutting the FAA to the benefit of his space company SpaceX. His team of underqualified younglings also slashed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which had the task of regulating his social network X-formerly-Twitter as it moves into the world of financial services.

Even his brain-computer interface company Neuralink will have fewer pesky rules to contend with now that DOGE has gone after Food and Drug Administration workers who were reviewing the company.

In short, to call it a conflict of interest would be an understatement. His own businesses are already directly benefiting from his "hostile takeover" of the US government, meaning that the richest man in the world isn't just above the law; he's the one determining the rules.

More on the NHTSA: Terrifying Footage Shows Cybertruck on Self-Driving Mode Swerve Into Oncoming Traffic


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