The U.S. auto safety regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said it would “absolutely” consider dropping the requirement for fully autonomous vehicles to have steering wheels, following its earlier decision to scrap manual brake pedals from such vehicles. Tesla is building Robotaxis and has designed its Cybercab without a steering wheel or pedals, making a rule change like this a potential removal of a real barrier for the company. Rivals like Alphabet’s Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox are expected to benefit, but neither has tied its future to autonomy as much as Tesla has. On the same day, the NHTSA sent a letter to autonomous vehicle developers urging them to fix a troubling pattern, as driverless vehicles have reportedly been interfering with police, ambulances, and firefighters at emergency scenes, with the agency recording several cases where driverless cars blocked first responders or failed to recognize flashing lights, cones, and smoke. The changes are part of a broader push by the Trump administration to modernize driverless car rules, with the regulator’s reasoning being that if a car is never meant to be driven by a human, a steering wheel serves little purpose.