Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has backed domestic self-driving companies over their Chinese counterparts at the Autonomous Vehicle Safety Forum on Tuesday.
Technology To Be Developed In America
During his appearance at the event, Duffy stressed the need for American companies to continue self-driving efforts. “Everyone is trying to have the best [self-driving] technology that will be deployed around the world,” Duffy said.
He then added that he wanted America to lead the race. “I want the technology to be developed in America,” he said. “I want the rest of the world to use American technology,” Duffy added.
He then cautioned against the rise of Chinese competitors in the sector, sharing that he did not wish to see a “foreign competitor/foreign adversary/communist party” beat America in the self-driving race.
“This is a national security issue, this is an economic issue, this is a safety issue,” Duffy said.
Chinese Companies In The U.S.
Chinese companies have entered the U.S. autonomous vehicle market, with Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo partnering with Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd.‘s (OTC:GELYF) (OTC:GELHY) Zeekr to build and deploy the “Ojai” robotaxi in the U.S.
However, Rep. John Moolenar (R-MI) urged the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to exercise “heightened scrutiny” of “inbound investment push from China” and Chinese businesses into the U.S. automotive sector.
Need For Self-Driving Regulation
Duffy also stressed the need for regulatory overhaul for the self-driving sector. He shared that “top innovators” from Waymo, Amazon.com Inc.-backed (NASDAQ:AMZN) Zoox, as well as Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were at the forum.
“We’re going to have a day-long conversation about how we can have the right rule set to keep our safety mandate, but also allow them to continue to innovate,” he said. Duffy added that current rules dictate that cars need a steering wheel as well as gas and brake pedals.
“If you have an autonomous vehicle, do you need a steering wheel, or gas pedal, or windshield wipers?” he asked, adding that changes were needed that would help companies bring down prices.
Laying The Groundwork
Duffy had last year suggested eased safety rules for autonomous vehicles. “The rules of the road need to be updated to fit the realities of the 21st century,” he had said in a statement.
Rep. Brett Guthrie-led (R-KY) had also led a committee which had held a legislative hearing on bills that would ease the deployment of autonomous driving technology in the U.S., allowing up to 90,000 vehicles to be exempt from safety standards for 12 months. The 49 U.S.C. § 30113(d) standard currently provides exemptions to 2,500 vehicles.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s Robotaxi software backend designer, Thomas Dmytryk, departed the Elon Musk-led EV giant after an 11-year-long stint, in what is yet another major executive leaving Tesla.
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