The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an Audit Query concerning Tesla's certification of the Cybercab, covering approximately 1,000 vehicles. The purpose of the federal review is to examine whether Tesla's certification adequately demonstrates compliance with applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

The Cybercab is designed as a purpose-built autonomous vehicle without conventional human driving controls, including a steering wheel and accelerator and brake pedals. Tesla relies on federal vehicle-certification procedures in asserting compliance with applicable standards. The review highlights an important regulatory question: how existing federal motor-vehicle safety standards apply to vehicles designed for fully driverless operation without conventional manual controls. The Audit Query represents a significant federal examination of the regulatory treatment of purpose-built autonomous passenger vehicles, although it is not accurate to describe it as the first federal regulatory examination of autonomous vehicles.