If the current administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gets his way, driverless cars sold in the United States could shed their steering wheels for good. A ruling like that would ripple through the robotaxi business, and Tesla, deep into developing and testing its Robocab, stands to gain more than almost anyone else.

Speaking with CNBC, NHTSA administrator Jonathan Morrison said that, “If you’re developing a vehicle that is designed never to be driven by a human operator, it doesn’t make any sense to require manual controls.” Evidently, he was referring to companies that have deployed or are developing fully autonomous robotaxis, including Waymo and Tesla.

Read: The Feds Could Soon Clear The Way For A Tesla With No Brake Pedal

The agency moved last month to rework existing federal safety standards, and part of that effort would strip away the rule forcing autonomous vehicles to carry manual brake pedals.

Tesla To Benefit

If these changes are implemented, Tesla will reap the rewards. Its Cybercab, unveiled in late 2024, was originally conceived without a steering wheel or pedals, aiming to be fully autonomous, all the time.

However, last year, Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm acknowledged that, given the regulatory landscape at the time, Tesla would equip the robotaxi with a steering wheel and pedals if necessary. Before long, it had been seen testing multiple Cybercabs with these traditional controls.

Even if the law eventually lets Tesla sell the Cybercab stripped of a wheel and pedals, building it both ways would be the smarter play. Fleet versions could go without, while private buyers might want to drive their own Cybercabs part of the time and then turn them loose as autonomous taxis to earn their keep. One car, two lives, depending on who is behind the glass.

There’s no word on whether Elon Musk, who contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to President Trump’s campaign, has had any sway on the NHTSA rushing to update its regulations.

A growing number of Tesla Cybercab prototypes have been seen out and about in the US, and we now have some juicy new details about the EV. Not only is it light, but it’s also shaping up to be very efficient, not that this should come as much of a surprise.

Documents submitted by Tesla to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reveal that the Cybercab tips the scales at just 3,113 lbs (1,412 kg), which is reasonably light for a modern EV but about what you’d expect for one with just two doors and two seats. That makes it roughly 700 lbs lighter than the lightest Tesla Model 3 currently on sale.

The EPA data also notes that it has a gross vehicle weight rating of 3,730 lbs (1,691 kg), meaning the payload capacity is 617 lbs (280 kg), enough for a two-seater.

Read: Tesla’s CyberCab Promises 300-Mile Range with Surprisingly Small Battery

Then there’s power. The Cybercab will be driven by a single front-mounted electric motor producing 219 hp. That’s nothing compared to something like a Tesla Model S Plaid, but the Cybercab has been primarily designed as a robotaxi, so it doesn’t need to be a performance car. The EPA documents don’t precisely reveal battery details, other than noting it has a 146-amp-hour battery operating at 326 volts, which works out to 48 kWh.

EPA filings also indicate an efficiency rating of 165 Wh/mi, making the Cybercab the most efficient Tesla revealed to date and potentially one of the most efficient EVs on the market.

What About The Range?

The Cybercab’s driving range will obviously be hugely important. Using the EPA’s calculated test cycle, the range is listed at 418.2 miles (673 km). Crucially, this is simply under lab-testing conditions and not a real-world figure. InsideEVs expects the real driving range to be more like 280-290 miles (450-467 km).

It remains to be seen when exactly the Cybercab will launch. Tesla previously said it’d land before 2027, but we’re now halfway through the year, and it’s unclear if that deadline is still achievable. It’s also worth noting that while the Cybercab was initially conceived exclusively as an autonomous vehicle, prototypes have been filmed testing with a steering wheel and pedals, so it’s reasonable to expect it to first arrive with human-operated controls while Tesla continues to develop its self-driving systems.

Many automakers chasing autonomy have settled on roughly the same hardware recipe: cameras, radar, and LiDAR, each covering for the others’ weaknesses. Tesla went the other way. Its driver-assist suite leans entirely on cameras, no radar, no LiDAR. While using a vision-only system has some advantages, it also has some drawbacks, including issues caused by dirty camera lenses.

Tesla is aware of the problem. Recent Cybercab prototypes have turned up wearing small washer jets aimed at the exterior cameras, spraying them clean as needed. A patent filing suggests the company wants to go further than a squirt of fluid.

Read: Tesla’s Model Y Robotaxis Can Squirt Now, But Yours Still Can’t

An image from the patent depicts the entire camera unit, including a tiny fluid reservoir that can spray water onto the camera’s lens. Tesla has also designed a tiny wiper blade that can sweep across the lens, ensuring it’s as clean as possible. This blade will be driven by a small wiper motor, also incorporated into the camera’s housing, Not A Tesla App notes.

It’s an innovative solution and could help to overcome some of the issues Tesla’s vision system experiences. Of course, a setup like this won’t help Tesla’s cameras in dealing with sun glare, for example, which can impact how the automated driving systems work.

It’s also unclear if all of the exterior cameras used by current Tesla models could be fitted with these units, as they are noticeably larger than just having a camera. At the very least, Tesla may be able to squeeze camera units like these into the front of its vehicles, as well as the front quarter panels, and the rear, among the most important cameras it uses to capture 360-degree images.

Of course, these camera units will be more expensive than those currently used and, with more moving parts, will also be more prone to failure. But, as Tesla seeks to achieve full autonomy, they may be necessary.