The agency is losing almost half of the team that oversees autonomous vehicle safety, among dozens of other key personnel.

According to reporting by Ian Duncan in The Washington Post, recent firings at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) include “an engineer who worked with crash test dummies, employees who work with states on safety grant funding, and a research psychologist focused on drunken driving and speeding.”
“In all, the agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will lose between 70 and 80 people, split roughly evenly between firings of probationary employees and buyouts, according to three people, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.” The NHTSA employs roughly 800 people and is crucial to road safety efforts.
The firings include three out of the seven people tasked with overseeing autonomous vehicle safety. Whether or not the cuts were targeted, one former worker said they will amount to “less scrutiny of robotic vehicles.” According to one fired engineer, “The amount of people in the federal government who are able to understand this adequately is very small. Now it’s almost nonexistent.”
The NHTSA has several open investigations into autonomous vehicle technology, including Tesla’s self-driving features, Ford’s driver assistance technology, and autonomous taxi services Waymo and Zoox.
FULL STORY: DOGE employee cuts fall heavily on agency that regulates Musk’s Tesla

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.

Detroit Says Problems With Property Tax Assessments are Fixed. Advocates Disagree.
With higher-valued properties under assessed and lower-valued properties over assessed, advocates say there's still a problem with Detroit's property tax system.

Defunct Pittsburgh Power Plant to Become Residential Tower
A decommissioned steam heat plant will be redeveloped into almost 100 affordable housing units.
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