Tesla shares rose this week following a report indicating that President-elect Donald Trump will accelerate regulations on autonomous vehicles, sending a positive signal about how the leader will oversee the electric vehicle giant.
According to a report by Forbes, Tesla shares jumped 7% to $344, trading within 5% of the highest share price in two and a half years, near $360, set last Monday as investors flocked to the stock after the U.S. elections.
The stock rally follows a Bloomberg report indicating that Trump’s transition team will push the Department of Transportation to develop a regulatory framework for driverless vehicles, citing anonymous sources—a move that could help bring Tesla’s newly unveiled Cybercab to U.S. roads by 2026, the goal set by Musk.
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Policy Shift
The report suggests a significant shift in attitude by the current Department of Transportation, whose subagency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is investigating the safety of Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving programs due to the system’s performance under low-visibility conditions.
“This would be a key turning point, as Musk tells shareholders to only invest in the company if they believe Tesla can solve autonomous driving,” Forbes describes.
Trump could “potentially put an end to NHTSA investigations against Tesla,” commented analysts at Bernstein, led by Toni Sacconaghi Jr., in a note to clients on Monday, outlining several ways the president-elect could help Tesla’s driverless cars hit the roads.
These include a Congressional amendment to the Vehicle Safety Act to accelerate the pace of on-road vehicle testing and using legislative pressure to “induce states to provide an easier path toward more widespread testing for Tesla [full autonomous driving] or otherwise face reduced highway funding or other penalties.”
