Tesla’s week has gone from good to better.

At the beginning of the week, shareholders received news that CEO Elon Musk will dramatically reduce his time at DOGE starting in May.  Now, in the later part of the week, we get word that President Trump’s NHTSA will ease self-driving regulations.

Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is up 18% this week, including today’s 10% gain.

While earnings on Tuesday missed revenue and earnings estimates, the biggest takeaway was from the earnings call, where Musk indicated he will have more time to focus on Tesla as his commitments with DOGE will ease.

“I think starting probably in next month, May, my time allocation to Doge will drop significantly,” Musk said on the call. “I think I’ll continue to spend, you know, a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it is useful… but starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla and now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done.” 

On Thursday, Reuters reported that the Trump administration announced a new framework to accelerate the deployment of self-driving vehicles by easing safety requirements traditionally designed for human drivers and streamlining the reporting of safety incidents.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy framed the move as critical for U.S. automakers to remain competitive with China, citing the need to reduce regulatory barriers. The updated rules allow autonomous vehicles lacking features like rearview mirrors to operate on U.S. roads and adjust crash reporting thresholds.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also expanded its exemption program to include domestically produced self-driving cars.

Analysts at Barclays said Friday that the NHTSA’s plans to ease self-driving regulations is positive for Tesla’s Robotaxi venture.

“We see changes as supporting to Tesla robotaxi efforts, as regulatory compliance has been seen as key challenge,” Barclays Dan Levy commented.

Despite the great week, Tesla shares remain down 36% year-to-date.

Related articles

Why Tesla’s stock is having such a great week

RBC downgrades Global Payments on rising risks tied to Worldpay deal

Mizuho upgrades FMC Corp amid its low valuation and easing headwinds