As tech companies roll out self-driving cars in ever more locales, the federal agency deciding on the future of autonomous vehicles on the nation’s highways has a new top cop: a Silicon Valley attorney who reportedly worked on Apple’s top-secret self-driving car project, but who refuses to confirm or deny the allegations to the public.
President Donald Trump’s choice for the country’s highway czar has been allowed to keep his stock in Apple, according to federal ethics disclosures reviewed by the Lever. He’s also been tied to allegations of corporate meddling in road safety issues during the first Trump administration.
Last month, lawmakers confirmed Trump appointee Jonathan Morrison to helm the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Department of Transportation arm charged with overseeing automobile safety. Up until his nomination, Morrison was a lawyer at Apple, where he reportedly worked on so-called Project Titan, the tech giant’s secretive, and ultimately failed, self-driving car experiment.
When confronted by lawmakers at his nomination hearing, he declined to discuss the work he did for Apple, refusing questions about whether he was involved in Project Titan.
Morrison is another example of the revolving door in the Trump administration, which is already rife with appointees plucked from the industries they are now charged with overseeing.
And he takes office at a moment when a new self-driving car project seemingly hits the streets every day, from Amazon’s Zoox robotaxis, which are launching around the country, to Lyft’s autonomous ride-hailing rollout, to Waymo’s expansions into new cities. Even Tesla, which has faced a series of investigations into its self-driving software, has
Auteur: Katya Schwenk
