Tesla has been very clear the future is autonomous, CEO Elon Musk said in October, shortly after unveiling the Cybercab, Teslas self-driving robotaxi.
It now seems that Musk, who was recently nominated to lead a newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, is sharing his crystal ball with the incoming Trump administration.
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New federal rules under discussion would not only ease regulations around self-driving vehicles, but also raise the cap on the number of autonomous vehicles allowed on public roads, according to the report.
Under current rules, each manufacturer is allowed to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles per year in the U.S. Previous efforts to allow up to 100,000 vehicles have so far failed.
Regulators, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), have so far taken a cautious approach to the deployment of autonomous vehicles and their deployment as robotaxi services.
General Motors backed Cruise was forced to suspend operations last year following a fatal collision. Earlier this year, NHTSA also launched an investigation into Alphabet-owned Waymo following multiple incidents.
Waymo currently operates the only functioning robotaxi service in the U.S., with a fleet of about 700 self-driving vehicles on the road in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
While Tesla has already held discussions with ride-hailing company Uber for an upcoming robotaxi service, the companys full self-driving software (FSD) as currently used in regular Tesla models has also come under heavy scrutiny by regulators.
Last month, NHTSA opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The regulator also told Tesla to stop making misleading claims about FSDs autonomous capability and reaffirm that the software provides only a driver assist/support system.
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