NHTSA opens an audit of Tesla's self-certification that Cybercab meets federal safety standards

Tesla/Cybercab

The US road-safety regulator NHTSA opened an audit query into how Tesla certified the Cybercab, which has no steering wheel or pedals, as meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards. Carmakers certify their own vehicles; NHTSA wants the process and technical data Tesla used, including where Tesla decided some standards do not apply.

• Current federal standards assume manual controls such as a brake pedal. NHTSA says it is rewriting them but that 'existing standards remain in force' until it finishes.
• Precedent: Zoox self-certified its wheel-less robotaxi and faced a similar audit from 2023, which delayed its commercial launch.
• Zoox ended up with a temporary exemption in July 2026 from eight standards, capped at 2,500 vehicles a year for two years; Tesla could face the same route.
• An audit query is a request for information, not a recall or a finding against Tesla.