Tesla stock jumps 8% on Trump administration plan to relax self-driving-car rules
Tesla stock surged by as much as 8% on Monday after a Bloomberg report said the incoming Trump administration would seek to relax autonomous-vehicle regulations.
That would be a boon for Tesla, which has staked its future on launching fully autonomous electric vehicles in the coming years.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team told advisors they planned to make implementing a federal framework for self-driving vehicles a top priority for the Department of Transportation.
The existing federal rules are strict about car manufacturers’ ability to sell large quantities of vehicles without steering wheels or pedals.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a Trump ally, recently unveiled an autonomous vehicle called the Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals. Tesla said it planned to begin selling the Cybercab in 2026.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allows manufacturers to deploy only 2,500 self-driving vehicles annually. Legislative efforts to increase that limit have failed.
A request for comment from the Trump transition team was not immediately returned.
The Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said that if restrictions on self-driving vehicles were eased, Tesla would be the main beneficiary, describing such a situation as a “significant tailwind for Tesla’s autonomous and AI vision heading into 2025.”
“Musk’s significant influence in the Trump White House is already having a major influence,” Ives said in a note on Sunday, “and ultimately the golden path for Tesla around Cybercabs and autonomous is now within reach with an emboldened Trump/Musk strategic alliance playing out in real time and very in line with our thesis.”
Ives estimated that autonomous vehicles were a $1 trillion opportunity for Tesla and, if realized, could catapult it to a $2 trillion valuation over the next 12 to 18 months, representing potential upside of 76% from current levels.
Tesla stock has surged by 37% since Trump’s election win early this month.
