GM, Toyota Call Out NHTSA Over Safety Rules, Say Regulator Is 'Stifling Innovation,' Holding Back Autonomous Vehicle Future

Major U.S. automakers, including General Motors Co. GM, Toyota Motor Corp. TM and more have criticized the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for impeding progress.

What Happened: Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a group representing the car manufacturers, criticized the agency in written testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives hearing, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

"Its fractured relationship with the industry, decades-old safety regulations, and lack of a clear strategic roadmap for emerging technologies are stifling innovation and threatening U.S. global leadership," Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozella wrote in the testimony, the report said.

The CEO called on the agency to repeal automatic emergency braking rules, which require a car to come to a halt from up to 62 miles per hour and avoid collision during emergencies.

Bozella also called on the regulator to ease fuel economy requirements and put in a federal regulatory framework for Autonomous Vehicles, which he said wasn't in place despite "years of dialogue."

Why It Matters: The news comes in as automakers have been pushing for a regulatory framework on autonomous driving at a federal level for a while. Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk also sounded out calls for regulation for AVs federally during his meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Duffy had also said that the U.S. Department of Transportation will be announcing exemptions to U.S. auto safety standards for domestic manufacturers too. Previously, the exemptions only applied to imports.

Elsewhere, the NHTSA has said it will be easing some regulations for autonomous driving. NHTSA will be providing exemptions to U.S. Safety Standards "to facilitate automated driving systems technology reaching its full potential," it said in a statement.

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