Here is the full opening statement today before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee from Lars Moravy, VP of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla. “ For America to maintain its position in global technological development and grow its advanced manufacturing capabilities, we must enact a federal framework for the development and... deployment of AVs (autonomous vehicles). The committee has the opportunity to position NHTSA as a global gold standard for AV development.”show more

You can watch the broadcast live:

@Tesla Lars is extremely competent — probably the top Automotive manufacturing engineer in world at the moment...🫡

@Tesla heart-felt testimony

Great job by Lars so far. It’s funny how some of the congressmen and women try to put down Tesla as far as safety and Lars comes in and says yeah you’re wrong. Funny how Waymo says they are the only AV at scale… like buddy calm down we’re on the same team. And it will not stay that way.

@Tesla Legendary. Lars is awesome. 👏

@Tesla Is this broadcast live anywhere?

@Tesla Link in thread

@montymccoy @Tesla Can anyone report on the round of questioning that happened after the opening statements? Were they pro AV or anti? Assuming Dems were more skeptical than the GOP here but it is the Senate so they kind of do their own thing.

@SawyerMerritt @Tesla Good bipartisan push from Cruz and Fetterman on AV regs is refreshing. Geofencing talk was outdated, like horse carriages vs. EVs. Need forward policy for full AV adoption. My prediction? Tesla standard will be the US standard and by extension the world standard.

@Tesla Lars is a legend. Nicely done!

Overall positive session on the importance of AV standards. Lars was the tuning fork keeping discussion on point. Mostly intelligent discussion and questions from participants, however the range of truly informed questions was limited to a handful. A couple days for members to submit additional questions with resolution by end of Feb. Based on today I’ll throw out the following random thought. The future I want is one with “@tesla inside”

@Tesla This is awesome @SawyerMerritt ! 97% Aloha

@Tesla If federal legislation allows for rapid implementation of autonomous vehicles, Tesla is gonna crush everyone else quickly!

@Tesla I’m here. Lots of interest!

@Tesla If 365,000 people die annually in traffic accidents, every day of delay costs 1000 lives

@Tesla People don’t realize that China is aggressively innovating in this (EV & AV) and Tesla is the single US automaker trying to pull the USA past legacy auto.

@Tesla Lars sounded so nervous 😥

@Tesla

@Tesla I hope $TSLA and congress can make an AV framework and put America in the lead!

@Tesla Solid opening statement.

@Tesla Preach it, Lars. America needs to be the Gold Standard here. EVs with tested autonomous software IS the future and ensures more lives are saved annually. Do not interfere with the release of these safety protocols!

@Tesla A federal framework is the only way to make sure the U.S. stays ahead in the tech race. Moving fast on this will save lives and help our manufacturing sector grow. We can't let bureaucracy slow down progress that is already ready to go.

@Tesla So much talk - we need the federal framework to be created and created rapidly. Hope they outline next steps and a timeline at the end of the meeting.

@Tesla Waymo have Remote operators in Phillipines. WTF. They Should be local where the car operates.

@Tesla

@Tesla Good job Lars!

How informed are these members to be casting votes on AV policy. Senator Markey does not seem to be aware of the difference between geo-fenced operational AV taxis and beta testing for generalized AV, as well as the notice given to drivers when they activate the FSD system. Rep. Rosen seems to think Waymo manufactures and sells cars to the general public.

@Tesla

@Tesla @grok why is lars there?

@Tesla Go Lars!

Alright, after the Senate testimony on autonomous vehicles, it's self-evident the senators' line of questioning shows a profound level of ignorance about these systems., Tesla's especially. While well-intentioned, most questions root in deep misunderstanding. Sure, folks say advertise, bridge that gap, but Tesla's quiet strategy—let the product speak—makes sense. Except... not everyone's ignorance is innocent. Some felt malintent, maybe outright nefarious. As a Tesla owner, big investor for years, with Cybertruck and Model Y Performance—both full FSD—and eyeing a Model X upgrade, I've shown this to family, friends, neighbors. They see it work... still don't get it. So yeah, no need to stray from proving it ourselves, but supplement that. Not stats, not safety data but full, raw demonstrations of FSD's current capability. Won't sway the bad ones, proof's already out, but don't underestimate the coordination here. Watch the whole hearing; malintent's baked in with the cluelessness. Actors want this stalled.

@Tesla For Tesla to succeed it’s rather impotent Board of Dirac MUST find CEO leadership that is divorced from ultra right wing politics @elonmusk had inflicted on the EV market. He has nearly single-handedly destroyed all EV momentum. Unless Tesla BoD takes immediate action, EVs R DEAD

@Tesla lars is essentially the final boss of vehicle engineering. glad to see dc finally realizing that you can't just software update your way into a domestic supply chain

@Tesla Way to go Lars! Well done representing Tesla and the believes of autonomy!

@Tesla @grok what’s going to be the result from this in your beast guess? Much more robotaxis? Fsd unsupervised? Nothing?

@Tesla The regulatory environment will bottleneck fsd for years

@Tesla Great job @larsmoravy thank you for all you do

@Tesla Thanks for representing @larsmoravy ! Appreciated! 🫡🙏🫶