Several employees of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) were reportedly axed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last February.
There were about 30 employees that were removed from their post by DOGE, and it is now being reported that most of them are car safety experts who are evaluating autonomous car and technology.
Because of these layoffs from DOGE, one fired employee claimed that this could potentially “weaken” the agency’s capabilities in understanding self-driving technology that are currently looking expanding now.
DOGE Fires NHTSA Car Safety, Autonomous Car Experts
According to a new report by The Financial Times, there had been a massive restructuring at the NHTSA that DOGE effected last February, removing as many as 30 employees of the agency. It was revealed that many of these fired NHTSA staff were experts and part of the team that centers on car safety, tasked with evaluating autonomous driving technology in the country.
It was revealed by axed workers that they were part of the NHTSA’s “Office of Vehicle Automation Safety,” and regarded that instead of helping Tesla’s case in their autonomous driving tech, it would only “slow down” the plans.
These cuts were part of DOGE’s massive layoffs across the US government’s federal agencies and teams, with the renowned watchdog already laying off at least 20,000 federal employees since they started in late January.
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Elon Musk’s NHTSA Clean-Up Amidst Tesla Investigations
According to The Verge, the NHTSA layoffs took place amidst the many investigations that the agency launched against Tesla for its autonomous driving features that include its Full Self-Driving (FSD), Autopilot, and remote summon feature.
That being said, one Tesla manager said that this is “sheer madness” as it would only slow down Tesla’s rollout of autonomous driving technology as less people are present to develop the “framework for AVs.”
The DOGE Effect
Since President Trump took office, DOGE has not wasted any time with its audit and enforcements against different US agencies by immediately asking for access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system. However, they were only given read-only access.
Another significant move by DOGE was looking into the United States Agency for Internal Development (USAID), which it found to be severely flawed and called for its shutdown. Musk claimed via a previous X Spaces livestream that USAID is “beyond repair,” suggesting to Trump that the agency would either have to be dissolved or face a drastic overhaul.
That being said, there had been massive controversy surrounding DOGE’s leadership as the White House previously denied that Elon Musk is the head of the agency, downplaying his role to a mere “consultant” to the President.
Regardless, the new government watchdog has effected many radical changes in the US government over the past months, but they only have until July until they too get dissolved.
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