June 24, 2025 – A letter disclosed on Monday, as reported by Reuters, reveals that Tesla has informed U.S. regulators that its responses concerning the safety of deploying robotaxis in Texas are classified as confidential business information and should not be made public.
Earlier, on Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States stated that it was in the process of reviewing Tesla’s answers to a series of questions, including those related to the safety of its robotaxis in adverse weather conditions.
On Monday, NHTSA mentioned that Tesla had invoked a federal law which “curbs the agency’s ability to publicly disclose information marked as confidential by companies.” The agency further added, “After evaluating these responses along with other relevant information, NHTSA will take all necessary actions to ensure road safety.”
It has been known that since October of last year, NHTSA has been conducting an investigation into collision incidents involving Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) software under reduced visibility conditions. This investigation encompasses 2.4 million Tesla cars fitted with FSD technology, following four reported collision cases, one of which was fatal in 2023. NHTSA reiterated on Monday that the investigation into Tesla’s FSD Supervised/Beta version is still ongoing.
Tesla argued that the information submitted to NHTSA holds commercial value as competitors could potentially use it to enhance their own advanced driver-assistance and autonomous driving systems. In a letter to NHTSA, Kathy Brian, Tesla’s Senior Regulatory Legal Counsel, wrote, “Malicious actors might also exploit this marked information to tarnish Tesla’s brand reputation for undue recognition. Unless disclosed publicly, obtaining this marked information and all the knowledge derived from it would require substantial time and resource investment, as well as a profound understanding of Tesla.”
On Sunday, Tesla deployed a small fleet of robotaxis in Austin, Texas, to begin carrying paying passengers. This marked the first time Tesla vehicles have transported paying passengers without a human driver, a venture that Elon Musk believes is crucial for Tesla’s financial future. As of Monday afternoon local time, Tesla’s stock price surged by 8%, reaching $347.80 per share.
