NHTSA Orders Tesla to Defend Cybercab Legality Under Oath — SkimNews
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- NHTSA issued the Special Order on September 10, signed by Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser and addressed to Tesla's head of litigation and associate general counsel for regulatory affairs, demanding sworn answers to 21 detailed requests.
- Tesla has until September 30 to respond fully and truthfully, with civil penalties up to $139 million and criminal exposure of up to 15 years in prison for falsified sworn statements.
- Request 19 targets FMVSS No. 135's explicit requirement that service brakes be "activated by means of a foot control" — a standard NHTSA has publicly said a no-foot-pedal vehicle cannot certify to, even though NHTSA floated a rewrite of that rule in June that has not been finalized.
- Tesla self-certified the Cybercab as compliant without holding a Part 555 exemption, which NHTSA's own 2022 rule said was "likely...necessary" before a vehicle operated solely by an automated driving system could be manufactured for sale.
- Zoox, Amazon's robotaxi unit, took the legal opposite route in July, winning a temporary Part 555 exemption covering eight federal standards — including the same foot-brake and mirror rules NHTSA is now pressing Tesla on — capped at 2,500 vehicles per year through 2028.
- The remaining requests walk through how a car with no driver seat fails FMVSS 101 (controls and telltales), 102 (shift-position display), 108 (turn signals that self-cancel by steering-wheel rotation), 111 (mirrors and rearview), and 126 (stability-control telltales).
Why it matters: Tesla is the first company to commercialize a no-controls robotaxi via self-certification instead of an exemption, and NHTSA's order makes the legal theory explicit: a direct competitor (Zoox) just walked the formal Part 555 path and Tesla sidestepped it. Every Cybercab sold between September 3 and a successful defense now sits under a $139 million penalty ceiling and potential criminal exposure if the sworn response doesn't hold up.
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