Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right) joins former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Tesla shares jumped on Monday after a report that President-elect Donald Trump's transition team plans to make a federal framework for regulating self-driving vehicles a top priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
As of 9:43 a.m. ET, Tesla stock was up 7.4% following the Bloomberg News report, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
CNBC was unable to independently verify the report and requested comment from Trump's team and from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a unit of the Department of Transportation charged with overseeing self-driving technologies.
Musk was a central figure in the business world pushing for Trump's return to the White House in the run-up to this month's elections. The tech billionaire is now benefiting from the close relationship he has formed with the Republican politician, who previously served a first presidential term between 2017 and 2021.
Last week, Trump tapped Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency — or “DOGE” for short — which he said would end government “bureaucracy,” ease “redundant” regulations and cut “wasteful” expenditures.
A federal framework for regulating self-driving vehicles would be a major boon to Musk's Tesla, which has promised fully self-driving vehicles for several years but has so far failed to deliver a car capable of driving autonomously without a human behind the wheel. .
Tesla's long-term vision is to produce a fleet of self-driving vehicles called “Robotaxis” that can drive people without the need for human supervision.
Last month, Musk showed off Tesla's long-awaited robot car, a concept car called the “Cybercab,” a $30,000 two-seat vehicle with no steering wheels or pedals.
Tesla has already been beaten in the robotaxi race by Google's Waymo project, and is among the few companies to successfully launch self-driving cars on public roads.
Speaking at an event unveiling the Tesla Cybercab and “Robovan” vehicles, Musk said he expects Tesla to have its “unsupervised” full self-driving technology up and running in Texas and California next year in the company's Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles.
Full Self-Driving, or FSD, is Tesla's premium driver assistance system, and is currently available in a “supervised” version for Tesla electric cars. FSD currently requires a human driver at the wheel, ready to steer or brake at any time.
Trump's transition team is reportedly looking for political leaders for the Department of Transportation to develop a federal regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles, according to Bloomberg.
They include Emil Michael, former CEO of Uber, and Republican Representatives Sam Graves of Missouri and Garrett Graves of Louisiana, Bloomberg reported.
