The TL;DR in one quote:
Job cuts at the US traffic safety regulator instigated by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency disproportionately hit staff assessing self-driving risks, hampering oversight of technology on which the world’s richest man has staked the future of Tesla.
An interesting quote from a Tesla manager:
“Letting Doge fire those in the autonomous division is sheer madness—we should be lobbying to add people to NHTSA,” said one manager at Tesla. They “need to be developing a national framework for AVs, otherwise Tesla doesn’t have a prayer for scale in FSD or robotaxis.”
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 4 days ago
Cars aren’t safe anymore by standards and tests, they are now safe by declaration.
errer@lemmy.world 4 days ago
It’s been going on a long time, look at how cozy Boeing was with regulators
anomnom@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Boeing want cozy with them, it employed them, and when they spoke up about it, they ended up dead. Whether from a conspiracy, or depression at the state or their careers and conscience, Boeing and the agency capture that allows shitty planes to exist bears the responsibility.
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 4 days ago
Man, idk. If I buy a foreign car, say a Hyundai Ionique (the new sexy one) how do I know it’s manufactured to other international standards and not specifically American standards?
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 3 days ago
Well, you don’t need to know anymore now :)
But if you are in Europe, the standards are still in force. No cars may be sold that do not meet these requirements. The manufacturer must declare the conformity for each model, and in addition they are tested by independent organisations sometimes.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Presumably before you buy something as expensive as a new car, I’d assume you’d look at reviews.
You’d be able to see the car’s Euro NCAP ratings, which, to be frank, were always much more comprehensive in testing than NHTSA anyway.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
Yeeeeuuup.
This is certainly going to improve the prospects of assembled in US cars getting exported…
Zron@lemmy.world 3 days ago
It’s not like the US auto industry is a key sector of the economy or anything.
That’s why it was so silly that Obama bailed them out, right? They’re only like 5% of the GDP. 5% is a little baby number.
God this country is power sliding into an another Great Recession. What do these idiots think they’re gonna do when a good chunk of the population loses their homes and comfortable lives because of them? A population with nothing to lose, lots of guns floating around, and no prospects for improvement under the current administration should be a very scary future for any leader.
I’d ask if they remember the French Revolution, but these fuckers seem to want to go back to a time before that.