NHTSA signals openness to ending steering wheel requirement for driverless cars

NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison signaled the agency would 'absolutely' consider eliminating the steering wheel requirement for fully autonomous vehicles, potentially removing a major regulatory barrier for Tesla's Cybercab and similar purpose-built robotaxis. The statement follows months of incremental FMVSS amendments removing human-operator assumptions, though Morrison stopped short of committing to a timeline or formal rulemaking process.