, Columnist
A Safer Road Map Toward Self-Driving Cars
Auto deaths are rising for the first time in decades, and lax regulations on autonomy won't help.
The future isn't quite here.
Photographer: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Ever since then-candidate Donald Trump began naming and shaming automakers for outsourcing American manufacturing jobs, the automobile industry has figured heavily in the new president’s political program. Having changed the industry’s tone -- if not its actions -- around manufacturing jobs in the course of a few tweets, Trump now appears to be rewarding the industry by relaxing tough 2025 fleet fuel economy standards set by the Obama administration.
There may be something to this: By alternately confronting and conciliating the auto industry, Trump is plotting a maverick course that one hopes could break up the longstanding cozy relationship between carmakers and the government agencies that oversee them.