Investing.com -- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares rose over 5% in after-hours trading on Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) Sunday evening following reports from Bloomberg that the upcoming Trump administration will establish a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles and make it a top priority for the Department of Transportation.
The development is seen as a major boon for Tesla, which has been leading the charge for fully autonomous driving. CEO Elon Musk has been a major supporter of President-elect Donald Trump and is now considered in his inner circle. Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are heading up the recently announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was tasked with cutting government spending waste.
"This would be a huge step forward in easing US rules for self driving cars and be a significant tailwind for Tesla's autonomous and AI vision heading into 2025," Wedbush analysts led by Daniel Ives commented.
The Trump administration is seeking leaders to develop the department’s framework for regulating self-driving vehicles. Current federal rules significantly restrict cars without foot pedals and steering wheels. Former Uber (NYSE:UBER) executive Emil Michael is said to be one of the candidates under consideration to lead the department. Republican Representatives Sam Graves and Garrett Graves are also said to have been considered.
Telsa recently announced plans to launch a Robotaxi service in 2026. Current regulations could limit the potential service. However, Musk’s influence in the new Trump administration could lay the groundwork for mass deployment and success of the new Tesla service.
"We estimate the AI and autonomous opportunity is worth $1 trillion alone for Tesla and we fully expect under a Trump White House these key initiatives will now get fast tracked as the federal regulatory spiderweb that Musk & Co. have encountered over the past few years around FSD/autonomous clears significantly under a new Trump era," Wedbush added.
The investment firm believes that Tesla stock is "the most undervalued AI play in the market today."
Tesla shares have been up 28% since Trump won the election on November 5th.