Why It Matters
Tesla Inc. is lobbying on autonomous vehicle policies as the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a Feb. 4 hearing titled "Hit the Road, Mac: The Future of Self-Driving Cars," at which Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy testified.
At the hearing, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) cited a 2024 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report linking Tesla's Autopilot to hundreds of crashes, including at least 13 fatal crashes, and argued that cuts to NHTSA weaken federal oversight of autonomous vehicles. The third-quarter filing also lists H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, general trade policies, solar and energy permitting, permitting and critical mineral policies, the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), spectrum and ultrawideband issues, the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program, and intellectual property.
By the Numbers
Tesla's in-house third-quarter filing reports $650,000 in lobbying expenditures, unchanged from the second quarter but up $310,000 from the third quarter of 2025.
Four outside firms also filed third-quarter reports for Tesla: Rich Feuer Anderson ($40,000), Capitol Consulting Group LLC (District of Columbia) ($20,000), Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP ($60,000) and Continental Strategy LLC ($90,000). No registrant was added or dropped from the second quarter.
The in-house team on this filing includes Ryan Duncan, managing policy adviser for federal energy; Kevin Rambosk, senior policy adviser for federal policy and former staffer for former Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI); Jourdan Lewis, senior policy adviser for federal energy and charging and a former House Energy and Commerce Committee staffer during the 115th through 117th Congresses.
Broader Context
Autonomous vehicles
Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) introduced H.R. 7390, the SELF DRIVE Act, on Feb. 5. The bill was referred to the House Energy and Commerce and Foreign Affairs committees. At the February Senate Commerce hearing on self-driving vehicles, Cantwell called for a new approach to safety with "strong oversight," cautioned against preemption language with an unclear effect, and noted that NHTSA launched 41% fewer recall investigations in 2025 than in 2024.
H.R. 1 and EV tax credits
H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, became Public Law 119-21 on July 4, 2025. A coalition including the Climate Action Campaign, Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club argued that the law would raise average household electricity costs by more than $110 per year and put up to 100% of planned U.S. electric vehicle (EV) assembly construction at risk. The Competitive Enterprise Institute and co-signatories including Americans for Prosperity and Heritage Action for America urged Congress to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act's EV incentives, arguing that the subsidies raise prices and could cost more than $1 trillion.
Fiscal 2027 NDAA and critical minerals
The House-passed fiscal 2027 NDAA, H.R. 8800, reached the Senate on Sept. 14, with Senate action pending as of the filing date, according to the supplied legislative record. In March 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled "Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production," addressing permitting and critical mineral policies of the kind listed in Tesla's filing.
The Bottom Line
The Senate received the House-passed fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 8800, with further action pending, according to the supplied legislative record. The Senate referred the SELF DRIVE Act, H.R. 7390, to the House Energy and Commerce and Foreign Affairs committees. Tesla's in-house lobbying expenditures have held steady for two consecutive quarters, and its outside-firm roster has remained unchanged over the same period.
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