| Thanks for reading Hyperdrive, Bloomberg's newsletter on the future of the auto world. Donald Trump's administration is poised to take over around 80 federal probes into potentially defective cars and trucks that have been opened under President Joe Biden. One in particular that started just before the election looms especially large, since it involves the automaker run by one of the president-elect's biggest benefactors: Elon Musk.  Musk shaking hands with Trump at an Oct. 5 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a defect investigation last month into a suite of features that Musk's Tesla markets as Full Self-Driving, or FSD. Contrary to the name, FSD isn't a self-driving system, as it requires constant human supervision and sudden interventions. NHTSA is examining whether FSD fails to safely operate when fog, dust, glare and other conditions reduce visibility. The probe was initiated after four crashes in which FSD was engaged and contending with these conditions. In one of the incidents, a Tesla fatally struck a pedestrian. While Musk suggested days after the investigation started that Tesla and his other companies have been subject to "lawfare" by federal regulators, defect probes are par for the course in the US. NHTSA has initiated 155 of them during Biden's presidency, only modestly more than the 135 opened during Trump's first term. Tesla vehicles have been the subject of 12 defect investigations opened under Biden. NHTSA has initiated 23 queries into Ford vehicles under Biden, and opened more probes of Stellantis (18) and Honda (14) cars and trucks. What makes the investigations of Teslas particularly noteworthy are questions around just how much power the carmaker's CEO will assert in setting the future course of NHTSA and the Department of Transportation. Trump announced Tuesday that Musk will co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency that he said will "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies." Already, Trump has said he'll be "closing up the Department of Education" and deputizing responsibility to states ("Good idea," Musk responded Monday on X.)  A Cybercab prototype at Tesla's store in San Jose, California. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Assuming the Transportation Department and NHTSA survive the "shockwaves" Musk says he'll send through Washington, none of the investigations into Tesla vehicles are more consequential than the one examining FSD. Musk has leaned into the technology like never before in an effort to differentiate Tesla's vehicles as sales have slipped. He's cautioned against owning his company's stock unless you're a devotee ("If somebody doesn't believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company," he said in April.) Tesla recognized $326 million in revenue last quarter linked to FSD, and some analysts expect software releases to eventually become the predominant generator of the company's profits. NHTSA has taken notice of Musk's aggressive messaging. In a filing posted to its website last week — two days after Kamala Harris conceded the presidential race to Trump — the agency attached an email that one of its officials sent to Tesla representatives in May. The official flagged seven of Tesla's social media posts about FSD that had given the agency pause. The posts showcased drivers who weren't keeping their hands on the wheel while using FSD, and conveyed messages that conflicted with how Tesla messages to customers in owner's manuals and elsewhere. NHTSA noted that an X user commented on one of the posts that they could see people getting home safely in a Tesla after drinking at a sporting event — an alarming conclusion to draw about a system that still holds the driver fully responsible for steering, stopping and going. "While Tesla has the discretion to communicate with the public as it sees fit, we note that these posts show lost opportunities to temper enthusiasm for a new product with cautions on its proper use," Gregory Magno, a division chief within NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, wrote in the email. Magno concluded the message in a way that was far from fire and brimstone. "We request that Tesla revisit its communications to assure that its messaging is consistent with the statements made in its user instructions and appropriate to the level of capability deployed to the public roads," he wrote. Much has been written in the days since Trump's victory about whether the president-elect will clear the way for Tesla to deploy robotaxis onto US roads. NHTSA's investigation and Magno's email suggest that investors who've added hundreds of billions of dollars to Tesla's market capitalization in the last week may be getting ahead of themselves. Tesla still doesn't have self-driving technology ready to be greenlit. It's acknowledged as much to regulators who already have been giving Musk lots of leash. — By Keith Laing  Illustration: Trevor Davis for Bloomberg Businessweek; photos: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg (1), Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images (1) Many an influential business leader who's gained proximity to Donald Trump has eventually been forced out of his orbit in humiliation. The half-life of Trump influence is so brief that it has a jokey shorthand — a "Scaramucci," referring to the 10-day period that Anthony Scaramucci, the investor and former Trump confidant, lasted as White House press secretary before being fired in 2017. "Elon Musk and others, right now they're in the halcyon moment with Donald Trump," Scaramucci said in a radio interview early this month. "But they will come to the Hades moment with him. It's just a matter of time."  An employee looks at sample trays of jadarite containing lithium and borate at Rio Tinto's research center in Loznica, Serbia. Photographer: Oliver Bunic/Bloomberg Rio Tinto Group's €2.55 billion ($2.7 billion) project to set up Europe's biggest lithium mine is a no-brainer for Serbia's government. President Aleksandar Vucic, who's trying to juggle ties to Russia and China with his plan to edge closer to the European Union, sees the mine as key to burnishing Serbia's EU credentials. Opposition parties across the political spectrum and environmental groups are nevertheless trying to stop it, saying pollution will destroy the area. The US ambassador to Serbia alleged those concerns were being amplified by a Russian-backed disinformation campaign. The Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed the claim. | 
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