- Tesla stock dropped 6% in an hour after the NHTSA opened a compliance audit of up to 1,000 Cybercabs.
- The audit follows the commercial deployment of Tesla’s Cybercab fleet in Austin, Texas, which lacks steering wheels and pedals.
- Unlike competitors like Zoox, Tesla self-certified compliance with safety standards rather than seeking a formal exemption.
Tesla shares crashed 6% in an hour this morning after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a new audit of the company’s recently deployed Cybercab fleet. Yesterday, Tesla commercially deployed its autonomous vehicles onto public streets in Austin, Texas without proactively seeking a special safety exemption.
The NHTSA’s Audit Query AQ26002, which covers up to 1,000 vehicles, targets the company’s process for self-certifying the Cybercab’s compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The Cybercab has no permanently attached steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator pedal, or rearview mirrors, which Tesla considers a safe, futuristic design choice.
However, the NHTSA stated it is opening this audit to examine the technical data Tesla relied upon when certifying the vehicles. An Audit Query is not an allegation of misconduct or a recall announcement, but the market reacted sharply as the Nasdaq 100 index held relatively sideways.
Tesla chose a bolder regulatory route than competitor Zoox, which recently received a formal, temporary FMVSS exemption for its commercial deployment. In its defense, Tesla stood by its claim that the Cybercab is engineered to be the safest car on the road. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the NHTSA audit. By noon in Nasdaq trading, shares of Tesla were trading 6.5% below yesterday’s closing price.
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