Robotaxi plans and Autopilot investigations: How powerful will Elon Musk become?

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has fully bet on a victory for Donald Trump—and won. As a reward, political influence in Trump’s White House is becoming apparent. There was a taste of this on the very first day after the presidential election: Musk was present during the phone call between the designated US president and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump suggested the possibility of entrusting Musk with reducing state expenditures. However, the 53-year-old still does not hold a government position—but was nonetheless present during the call. The Trump team attempted damage control through the “Wall Street Journal”: Musk's participation in the conversation was not planned. He had just happened to enter the room while Trump and Zelensky were speaking. This raises a new question: Can the richest person in the world just walk in on what will soon be the most powerful person in the world?

Laughing Musk in Trump family photo 

Indeed, Musk has firmly embedded himself in Trump's inner circle in recent months. So much so that he is seen holding one of Trump’s sons in his arms in a family photo taken after the election victory. The tech titan has done much to earn this spot. By mid-October alone, he had invested around 120 million dollars in the ex-president's campaign, especially in the potentially decisive state of Pennsylvania. 

He also flooded his more than 200 million followers on the online platform X, which he owns, with daily calls to vote for Trump and scathing criticism of the Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. Musk particularly harped on the contentious issue of immigration. He spread the false claim that Democrats were flying in migrants to sway the election. Even users who didn’t directly follow him were inundated with pro-Trump posts via the “For You” selection in their timelines.

Will Musk cut off funding to annoying agencies?

But in what direction could Musk steer Trump’s policy? And how can the interests of his many companies fit into this? After all, Trump would be leaving government spending control in the hands of someone who constantly complains loudly about regulatory hurdles. 

What if Musk simply cuts off the funding to the agencies he is annoyed with? When he took over Twitter, he simply fired half of the staff. Could the government apparatus face a similar drastic measure if he sticks to his usual approach? 

Musk is not only the head of electric car manufacturer Tesla and owner of the online platform now renamed from Twitter to X. He also leads the space company SpaceX. With this, the USA is already dependent on him: Only SpaceX has the rocket capacity to launch American satellites and astronauts into orbit on a large scale.

Investigations against Tesla

Tesla could use a little less attention from regulators. For years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating accidents involving the “Autopilot” driver assistance system. Just a few days ago, it was revealed that the NHTSA sees a problem in Tesla's “Autopilot” videos. They could mistakenly give drivers the impression that Teslas with the newest version of the system can drive themselves. However, even the latest stage of development with the grand name “Full Self-Driving” is only an assistance system, where the person at the wheel must maintain control at all times.

Free ride for Musk’s robotaxi?

And Musk has big plans: He recently introduced a Tesla robotaxi without a steering wheel and pedals. It is supposed to go into production starting in 2026 and make autonomous driving possible using only cameras—instead of the expensive laser radars that successful robotaxi companies like Google rely on today. This would give the electric car manufacturer a substantial cost advantage over the competition.

Tesla intends to quickly build two million of such vehicles per year, announced the tech billionaire who is notorious for missed deadlines. But there are two problems with these grand plans—and less regulatory pressure could help in both cases. First, among experts, it is anything but clear that reliable autonomous driving can be achieved with only cameras. And second, cars without steering wheels and pedals are currently allowed on the roads as experimental vehicles only in small numbers.