Autonomous cars don't vote yet, but they can influence an election. The source of Elon Musk's enthusiasm for Donald Trump can be tied to his business interests and the advantage he'll be able to gain from his preferred candidate's victory. In any case, this viewpoint was embraced by the immediate reaction of investors, who propelled Tesla shares by almost 50% in one week, despite the future president's reticence on the subject of electric cars. After all, Tesla's fate hangs on Musk's relationship with the Trump administration.
Overtaken in the global electric car market by China's BYD, Musk is looking to regain control of the next stage of transportation, autonomous driving. On October 10, he presented the core of his new growth strategy, autonomous cabs. His futuristic Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals. He also promised a minibus of the same type, the Robovan.
The driverless vehicle is no longer science fiction, even if its application to passenger cars will take longer than expected. It is, however, already a reality in many industries. In the mining sector, for example, more than 2,000 giant trucks operate without drivers in mines in Australia, Canada and China. The next stage will be public transport, with buses whose routes are known and speeds limited. Then will come cabs, like the one Musk presented.
The problem is that Tesla's Cybercab is starting the race with a serious handicap. The first authorized tests won't take place until 2025, while competitors such as Google's Waymo, General Motors' Cruise and Amazon's Zoox are already racking up miles in cities across the country. The powerful Federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration (FHTA) is only slowly authorizing experimentation and even production volumes for this type of vehicle. What's more, the more fuel-efficient, radar-free technology it uses is raising questions among experts, and therefore authorities.
This is where politics comes in, and the possible and expected appointment of Musk as head of administrative efficiency. The media are speculating about who the billionaire could appoint to the administration to clean up the civil service, as promised by Trump. No doubt relaxing the administrative straitjacket that limits experimentation in transport will be at the top of Musk's agenda. It will be a good test of the US's ability to resist the Trumpian wave and its conflicts of interest.