Februarys AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has shown a continued weakening of billings across the country. The new score of 45.5 can be seen as an indicator of an unfavorable economy for architecture, as newly signed design contracts have now decreased for the past twelve consecutive months.Billings were soft in every region, with business conditions remaining weak in every area of specialization. This is also the fourth consecutive ABI to record a decline."Conditions in the broader economy were generally positive in February, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increasing by only a modest amount, long-term interest rates easing from January levels, and healthy job growth," AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker stated. "However, uncertainty surrounding the impact of recently announced tariffs may lead to a rise in building material prices in the coming months while immigration policy may put even more pressure on an already undersupplied construction labor market."Relate...

While various new titles performed well in the United States in February, video game hardware spending is a different story. Circana analyst and executive director Mat Piscatella reveals that it fell to $256 million, a 25 percent drop and the lowest for the month since February 2020 ($184 million).The PS5 still leads in units and dollar sales, and despite the slowing sales pace of the PS5 Pro, the base consoles sales have exceeded the PS4s pace by seven percent. Conversely, sales for the Xbox Series X/S are lagging behind the Xbox One by 19 percent.The PlayStation Portals base model was still the top-selling accessory, though total accessory spending dropped by eight percent to $220 million. Year-to-date for accessories are 18 percent behind the pace set by 2024. Gamepad sales were down 17 percent, and sales for headsets/headphones fell by 25 percent.It should be interesting to see if hardware and accessory sales improve, especially with the Nintendo Switch 2 out this year. In the meantime, stay tuned for the consoles dedicated Direct on April 2nd.February video game hardware spending fell by 25% when compared to a year ago, to $256 million. This is the lowest February total for video game hardware spending since the $184 million reached in February 2020. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:43.007ZPlayStation 5 was once again the best-selling hardware platform of the month across both units and dollars. Xbox Series ranked 2nd in both measures. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:43.008ZAfter each platforms first 52 months in market, PlayStation 5 unit sales exceed PlayStation 4s sales pace by 7%, while Xbox Series now trails Xbox One by 19%. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:43.009ZAccessories spending in February declined by 8% vs YA, to $220M. Year-to-date accessories spending is now 18% behind 2024s pace. 2025 year-to-date consumer spending on Gamepads has declined 17% compared to a year ago, while Headset/Headphone spending has fallen 25%. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:43.010ZThe PlayStation Portal base model was again the months best-selling accessory in consumer spending. The PS5 Portal Remote Player Midnight Black ranked 3rd overall, while the PS5 DualSense Edge Wireless Controller Midnight Black placed 5th. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:43.011Z

Circanas February 2025 video game sales charts for the United States are in, and to no ones surprise, Monster Hunter Wilds is on top. However, its also the best-selling game in the region year-to-date based on dollar sales, more than doubling launch month sales for Monster Hunter Rise, according to executive director and analyst Mat Piscatella on BlueSky. If topping the PlayStation and Xbox charts wasnt enough, it was also the best-selling PC title, with over half of total dollar sales coming from Steam. With over eight million copies sold in three days, the action RPG is Capcoms fastest-selling game in history and seems on track to top Monster Hunter Worlds record.Other notable successes for the month include Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 in second place, whose launch month sales are over five times higher than its predecessor. Sid Meiers Civilization 7 and PGA Tour 2K25 took third and fourth place, while Avowed and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii occupied seventh and eighth.February 2025 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content) Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:42.992Z2025 Year-to-Date Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content) Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:42.993ZMonster Hunter: Wilds was the best-selling video game of February, instantly becoming the best-selling title of 2025 thus far. Launch month dollar sales of Monster Hunter: Wilds more than doubled the total Monster Hunter: Rise achieved during its March 2021 debut. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:42.994ZMonster Hunter: Wilds was the best-selling game of February across each of the PlayStation, Xbox and Steam ecosystems, with Steam accounting for more than half of the titles total dollar sales. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:42.995ZThe top 4 best-selling games of Feb 2025 were new releases. Joining Monster Hunter: Wilds at the top of the chart were Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Sid Meiers Civilization VII and PGA Tour 2K25. Avowed (7th) and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (8th) also made the top 10. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:42.996ZThe launch month dollar sales total Kingdom Come: Deliverance II reached in February 2025 was more than 5 times higher than that the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance achieved during its February 2018 debut. Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-03-19T13:00:42.997Z

Tuesday, March 18th, 2025Posted by Jim ThackerSketchsoft releases Feather 1.1html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Sketchsoft has updated Feather, its promising 3D sketching app for iPad.Feather 1.1 improves workflow for users with Apple Pencils, adding a new Squeeze menu with access to common actions, new hover behaviors, and haptic feedback. Create 3D sketches using an interesting two-stage workflowFirst released in 2022, Feather lets artists create 3D concept designs on iPads.It uses an interesting workflow, in which you first draw 3D guide surfaces, then draw strokes on top of the guides, rotating the developing sketch in 3D using touch gestures.The 3D models can be exported to other DCC apps in glTF or OBJ format, while a free Blender add-on makes it easier to edit assets created in Feather in the open-source 3D software.Users can also export 2D images, videos and turntable animations directly from the app.In 2024, the software, which had been available free in early development, became a paid app, and the Chrome web app was temporarily discontinued.Feather 1.1: workflow updates for Apple Pencil usersFeather 1.1 improves workflow in the app when using an Apple Pencil stylus.Squeezing the Apple Pencil now brings up a customizable menu with commonly used tools and commands, including a new Find Group command to help navigate complex scenes.In addition, tools now respond dynamically when hovering the Pencil over them: for example, hovering over a 3D guide lets you preview brush size and color before beginning to draw.Users with the new Apple Pencil Pro also get haptic feedback when erasing lines, making selections, or sampling colors and brush properties.Sketchsoft pitches the tactile feedback as making sketching feel more immersive, increasing precision.Price and system requirementsFeather 1.1 is compatible with iPadOS 16.0+. A perpetual license costs $14.99.Read a full list of new features in Feather 1.1Download 3D sketching app Feather from the App StoreHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsNVIDIA unveils Blackwell RTX PRO GPUs with up to 96GB VRAMNew series of pro workstation and laptop GPUs include the 'most powerful desktop GPU ever created'. See its key specs for CG work.Wednesday, March 19th, 20255 key features in Blender 4.4Check out the key changes in the latest version of the open-source 3D app, including important updates to animation and the CPU compositor.Tuesday, March 18th, 2025Sketchsoft releases Feather 1.1Promising 3D sketching app for iPad gets time-saving new workflows for Apple Pencil users, including support for haptic feedback.Tuesday, March 18th, 2025GIMP 3.0 is out after seven years in developmentLong-awaited update to the open-source image editor adds non-destructive layer effects and better interoperability with Photoshop.Tuesday, March 18th, 2025Adobe releases Substance 3D Modeler 1.21Check out the new export features in the VR modeling software. Now available via Adobe's new Substance 3D Indie subscriptions.Tuesday, March 18th, 2025Adobe releases Substance 3D Painter 11.0Check out the new features in the 3D texture painting app, including an Auto-update system, and more path tools, filters and texture generators.Monday, March 17th, 2025More NewsFree tool: Lens Cap for BlenderCelsys releases Clip Studio Paint 4Assetify 2.1 converts Blender assets to game-ready formatsTutorial: Creature Combat Animation in MayaWonder Studio becomes Autodesk Flow StudioPolygonflow releases Dash 1.9Get KitBash3D's Gaea fantasy architecture asset pack for freeCheck out open-source Blender character generator MPFB 2Check out neat AI-trained hand mocap tool HandCraft ProTutorial: Creating Production-Ready Hero Assets Using MariAMD releases Capsaicin 1.2AMD launches FSR 4, AFMF 2.1 and RIS 2.0Older Posts

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"The GIMP development team has released GIMP 3.0, the first major update to the free and open-source image editing and retouching software in seven years.The release adds non-destructive layer effects and text styling, off-canvas image editing, support for the Adobe RGB color space, and better interoperability with Photoshop.There are also a number of long-awaited usability improvements, including the option to multi-select layers.Support for non-destructive editing of layer adjustmentsThe first major update to the GNU Image Manipulation Program since 2018, GIMP 3.0 is a correspondingly significant release.The main change is support for non-destructive layer effects, making it possible to edit filters and image adjustments like Curves and Hue-Saturation after they have been applied.Adjustments can also be toggled on or off, re-ordered, or merged.Non-destructive (NDE) filters can be saved in GIMPs XCF file format, making it possible to continue to edit layer adjustments after re-opening a file.Non-destructive text outlining and new GEGL Styles filterThe options for styling text have also been extended, with the Text tool getting new options for generating outlines around text non-destructively.A separate GEGL Styles filter GEGL being the Generic Graphics Library, GIMPs image-processing engine also generates drop shadows, glows and bevels, as shown above.Other new features: off-canvas editing and an experimental Paint Select toolOther new features include support for off-canvas editing, with a new Expand Layers option for the paint tools making it possible to paint beyond the current boundaries of a layer.The layer is automatically resized to fit the new paint strokes, up to the boundaries of the image.There is also an experimental new selection tool, Paint Select, which makes it possible to select parts of an image for editing by progressively painting in the selection.Several key workflow improvements, including multi-selection of layersGIMP 3.0 also features some long-awaited workflow improvements: notably, the option to multi-select layers, channels and paths.Previously, it was only possible to edit multiple layers by selecting and linking them individually.It is also now possible to organize layers into layer sets, and to search for layers by name; and copying and pasting now creates a new layer by default, not a floating selection. There is also a new Welcome dialog (shown above), which provides quick access to documentation, recent files, and UI settings, including color themes, and icon and font scaling.In addition, the Search command now shows the menu location of the action you have searched for in the search results.Pipeline integration: support for new color spaces and image formatsThe release also introduces support for RGB color spaces beyond simple sRGB, making it possible to load and edit images with Adobe RGB color profiles without losing information.The change also lays the groundwork for support for the CMYK and LAB color spaces.Interoperability with Photoshop has been improved, expanding support for the PSD file format, and making it possible to load JPEGs and TIFFs with Photoshop-specific metadata like clipping paths, guides and layers.It is also now possible to import color palettes in Adobes ACB and ASE formats, as well as the open-source SwatchBooker palette.Other changes include support for new lossless image compression formats QOI and JPEG XL, and for DDS game texture files with BC7 compressions.And while it isnt currently possible to edit in CMYK mode, it is possible to import and export CMYK JPEG, JPEG XL, TIFF and PSD files, with GIMP converting from RGB color space.Compatibility-breaking changes to the plugin APIGIMP 3.0 also introduces support for more languages for developing scripts and plugins: it is now possible to develop add-ons using JavaScript, Lua and Vala as well as C. The update also switches GIMP from Python-fu to standard Python 3.The changes break compatibility with add-ons written for GIMP 2.10, although some popular plugins like GMIC are already available for GIMP 3.0.Faster release schedule for GIMP 3.x updatesThe GIMP development team now plans to switch to smaller, but more regular, releases.The next feature update, GIMP 3.2, is due for release within a year, following a series of 3.0.x bugfix releases.License and system requirementsGIMP 3.0 is compatible with Windows 10+, macOS 11.0+ and Linux, including Debian 12+. Source code is available under a GPLv3 license.The software is free, but if you want to support future development, or support its core developers, you can find details of how to do so on the Donate page on the GIMP website.Read a full list of features in GIMP 3.0 in the online release notesHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

SEARCH-R1 trains LLMs to gradually think and conduct online search as they generate answers for reasoning problems.Read More

What kinds of games are Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg and CTO Steve Collins playing these days?That may seem like an idle question, but when you're the leaders of an engine company serving developers across the industry, it's helpful to know what games are top of their mind. In a conversation with Game Developer at the 2025 Game Developers Conference, Bromberg said he'd spent time recently playing Camouflaj's Batman: Arkham Shadow. Collins, meanwhile had been playing Black Salt Games' Dredge on the way into San Francisco.Each had praise for the games, but also explained how Unity's close work with Camouflaj and Black Salt was part of its new post-runtime fee strategy. Bromberg said that Unity worked closely with Camouflaj as almost a "co-developer," helping the team tackle complex VR challenges like Batman's high-speed flight across Gotham.Collins, meanwhile, spoke about Unity's mission to make Dredge play as smoothly on Android devices as it did on console. Doing so doesn't just bring Dredge to a mobile audience, it also introduces the Lovecraftian fishing simulator to audiences playing on devices like the NVIDIA Shield or the Ayaneo Pocket. "It's a great story about taking an existing property and broadening its reach," he said.A "broad reach" is certainly a part of Unity's pitch to developers in its rollout of the Unity 6.1 roadmap. The company seems to be telling developers who were eyeing the door after the 2023 runtime fee debacle that staying with Unity isn't just about having a reliable game development tool, it's a great porting partner to expand your game to a wider audience.Related:It's a fine pitch in an era for developers struggling to survive in a tough market. But many have been asking if staying with Unity means putting themselves at risk for another existential anxiety attack down the line.To hear Bromberg and Collins tell it, that answer is hopefully "no." That brings us to the biggest part of their pitch: that under their watch, Unity is on track to deliver more stability for partners and customers. But are they talking about technical stability, or organizational stability?Their explanation to Game Developer: "it's both."'Stable' versions of Unity should hopefully be more stableThe runtime fee bombshell wasn't just a story of a development community fearing for their financial safety, it was also a body blow to a community that was feeling the weight of years of tech debt under the engine. Scroll through the list of acquisitions Unity made in the run-up to its initial public offering and you'll see a number of intriguing tools that could be usefulbut as Godot co-founder Juan Linietsky observed in our conversation last year, a company loading up on new tools at that speed is creating a mountain of tech debt really fast.Related:Launching and maintaining all those services can mean older favored tools might fall by the wayside. Unfortunately Unity chose to address this problem by laying off 25 percent of its workforce in 2024, and terminating another team in February 2025.Those layoffs, for better or worse, are a byproduct of Unity's decision to narrow its focus, Bromberg said. "We made a series of choices on at the product level around what we wanted to focus on," he said. It was painful for some folks and painful for us, but there were impacts."Any such future cuts in 2025 would be done with a similar mindset, he asserted. "We're not looking to cut costs for financial reasons," he said. One can understand that winding down products and services means a company has no need for the people who brought them to lifebut it does little to ease the sting that hardworking developers are still paying the price for executive mistakes.Still, Unity is, as Bromberg explained in a 2024 blog, shifting its technical strategy. Beginning with 6, Unity is reshaping its strategy for "stable" and "experimental" builds. Previously, both labels advanced with new versions of Unity. Now the company is slowing down the rollout of "stable" builds, "blessing" certain builds as ones that receive long-term support and bugfixes while progress advances on new features for the following few months. If say, Unity 6.4 were to receive that blessing, the next "stable" version would not be designated until Unity 6.5, .6, and .7 had already rolled out.Related:Unity customers want something "simpler" than how things used to be done, said Collins. That means developers can make a clearer choice between testing new features early in development and locking in to a stable build that will serve them during production proper.Developers hoping for news on long-awaited initiatives like .NET modernization and block shader initiatives might have to wait a little longer. Collins said they are 'very important' to Unity, but they're focusing on Unity 6 rollouts this year. "The work we're doing on AI, the work we're doing on performance, the work we're doing on increasing the number of platforms we're supporting...that's the thing we're focusing on, helping developers deliver the titles and the games that they're delivering right now.""The core work we're doing around stability is to enable us to be in a place where developers don't feel like they have to choose between...new features and stability," said Bromberg.Re-engaging with developers who made Unity what it isAnother pain point for developers burned by Runtime Fee is the feeling that Unity ignored the community that helped make the engine such a prolific tool. The service evolved through user-developed plugins and features that became mainstays. In a post-IPO world, does that kind of open-source mentality still hold up?Hopefully. In Unity's quest to focus on its strengths, Bromberg and Collins said the community-sourced services (many hosted on the Unity store) should be something that fills the gap for users who need more than the company's offerings. "We want to work more closely with those partners," Collins said, referring to developers who dedicate work on those plugins and other systems. "I'd say a lot of what we're talking about here [is] in terms of 'focus.' Focus is about choosing what [we] do, and don't do, but also to not do things that are very well served by the ecosystem.""There are great solutions out there where we can just get better at interacting with those, and we do plan to do that. We do plan to be a better partner in our own ecosystem in the coming months."Grand promisesbut developers around GDC certainly still had the feel of a wounded animal warily making their way to an outstretched hand when the topic of Unity came up. Perhaps it's worth wondering what goal Unity is trying to serve with its services. Under John Riccitiello's leadership, he landed in hot water preaching the need to "make money by testing monetization early" (and saying some developers are 'fucking idiots')Bromberg and Collins didn't say anything about monetization in our chat, though they talked broadly about reaching new audiences. The pair company were buzzing with excitement about WebGPU as a new platform for developers, and seemed to have a hint of exasperation at the platform fees on Steam, the App Store, console platforms, etc. Bringing that kind of opportunity to more types of developers seems to be part of the new promise."That where's the sweet spot in the market is, right? Beautiful games, on any platform," he said (quickly acknowledging 'beautiful' might be a loaded word that means too many different things). I think the industry in general is realizing that's where it wants to be."Game Developer and GDC are sibling organizations under Informa.

Unity has announced plans to expand its game engine with AI-powered workflows, increased platform support, and enhanced performance and stability.Breaking the news at GDC 2025, the company explained it will be rolling out three Unity 6 updates in 2025 beginning with Unity 6.1 in April."These releases are all focused on making it easier for developers to build, optimize, and scale games that reach more players on more devices," explained Unity."With continued investment in the stability and performance of the Unity engine, Unity 6.1 will enable higher frame rates, smoother gameplay, lower CPU/GPU load for better performance across devices, and improved debugging for easier optimization. In addition, as part of a shift in the development approach initiated with Unity 6, Unity has been co-developing games with key partners to test Unity 6.1 in production, ensuring its stability before release."Unity said it will double down on platform reach by extending Unity 6.1 support to Meta Quest, Android XR build profiles, Instant Games, and foldable Android smartphones. The company will also enable experimentation with WebGPU on supported browsers.Unity president and CEO Matt Bromberg said the company remains committee to "accelerating product innovation and quality" throughout 2025 to ensure Unity projects run smoothly on any device.Related:"Unity 6.1 will be the first of several updates this year, delivering production-tested tools so developers never have to choose between new features and stability," he added.Bromberg has attempted to rehabilitate Unity's public image since taking the wheel in May 2024.Last year, he completely scrapped the controversial Runtime Feewhich caused a colossal uproar when it was unveiled in 2023 and ultimately led to the departures of key figures including former CEO John Riccitiello.In a wide-ranging interview with Game Developer, Bromberg said he intended to turn Unity into a "fundamentally different company" and win back the trust of developers.Following the launch of Unity 6 in October last year, he explained the engine maker would make delivering "practical value" a priority.While Bromberg has been attempting to rebuild bridges with developers around the world, Unity has been working to reposition its business by cutting jobs and terminating notable partnerships.As detailed in the company's latest financial report, Unity cut ties with over 1,700 workers and closed 23 offices during the previous fiscal year.Those figures essentially confirm the company succeeded in jettisoning roughly 25 percent of its workforce to "position itself for long-term and profitable growth."Related:Those layoffs look to have continued into the current fiscal year.

Google is breaking European antitrust laws by favoring its own Shopping, Hotels, and Flights search services over rival comparison providers, according to the European Commission. The EU announced in its preliminary ruling today that Googles parent company, Alphabet, had also violated anti-steering rules under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by preventing app developers on its Play Store from steering customers to other distribution channels.Google can challenge the preliminary charges or make additional compliance changes ahead of the EUs final ruling. The EU can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global annual revenue for DMA violations, which would be a maximum of $35 billion based on the $350 billion Alphabet earned in 2024.In the first case, our preliminary view is that Alphabet is in breach of the Digital Markets Act by favouring its own products on the Google Search results page, which means suppliers and competitors do not benefit from fair ranking practices, Teresa Ribera, European executive vice president for clean, just, and competitive transition, says in a statement.Google believes the changes Europe is pushing for in search are misguided, Oliver Bethell, Googles senior director of competition, writes in a blog post. Bethell warns, for example, that if Google cant show travel results that take people directly to airline sites, they typically end up with a more expensive ticket because airlines have to pay commissions to intermediary websites. He also says the changes have led to traffic declines of up to 30 percent for some businesses.Alphabet does not effectively allow Android phone users to be told about or directed to cheaper offers from app developers outside the Google Play store.When it comes to Googles mobile app store, the EU believes that Alphabet does not effectively allow Android phone users to be told about or directed to cheaper offers from app developers outside the Google Play store, Ribera says.Bethell says the commissions findings on app distribution create a false choice between openness and security. He says the government is effectively forcing us to choose between a closed model more similar to Apples iOS, which requires apps to be reviewed before distribution and an unsafe one, where Google is forced to give users access to scammy or malicious links that take our users outside of the secure Play environment.Europes EVP for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, Henna Virkkunen, says that both practices negatively impact many European and non-European businesses that rely on Google Search or Google Play to reach their users in the EU. Ensuring that Alphabet fully complies with the DMA is key to ensure business and innovation opportunities for all providers of digital services.The announcement comes after the EU opened an investigation into Google Search on March 25th over concerns that it was treating its own services more favorably in Searchs ranking than services provided by third-party rivals something the EU fined the company 2.4 billion (worth about $2.5 billion today) for doing with Google Shopping in 2017. Apple was the first company to be charged under the DMA in June 2024, and soon after, Meta was hit with a preliminary ruling that its advertising model also violates the act.Ensuring that Alphabet fully complies with the DMA is key to ensure business and innovation opportunities for all providers of digital services.Google had introduced several changes to its Search services in a bid to comply with new DMA rules. These included adding new search result layouts that boosted links to third-party comparison websites and removing the Google Flights widget for Search users in the EU. It even tested a decluttered return to the classic 10 blue links. The DMA targets specific gatekeepers companies that provide core digital services to European consumers requiring them to allow more interoperability and avoid giving their own digital services preferential treatment. Alphabet was designated as a gatekeeper in September 2023, with a compliance deadline of March 6th, 2024.The ruling follows rising tensions between European policymakers and US President Donald Trump, who has surrounded himself with fawning US tech CEOs who have criticized fines placed on them by the EU as a form of taxation. The Financial Times reported in January that an increase in US pressure was allegedly leading the EU to soften its approach to big tech regulation and reassess its investigations into Apple, Meta, and Google.See More:

Family members of people who died in Tesla crashes are urging the US Department of Transportation not to scrap a Biden-era rule requiring companies to report crashes that involve fully or partially autonomous vehicles. They also say they are worried that Tesla CEO Elon Musks influence in the Trump administration may lead the department to weaken oversight of his company. In a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, seven families say they are deeply concerned that the federal government would water down oversight of driver assist technology like Teslas Autopilot. We fear this important measure is under threat given recent media reports and the influence of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose company operates the most widely used Level 2 ADAS systems in America, the letter, which was first reported by Politico, reads.Their fears arent unwarranted. Before the inauguration, Reuters reported that Trumps transition team was discussing eliminating a standing general order issued under Biden requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes involving autonomous vehicles as well as Level 2 driver-assist systems. Scrapping the rule would greatly benefit Tesla, which to date, has reported the most number of crashes.In urging him not to eliminate the rule, the family members appeal to Duffys own experience with vehicular violence, referencing the head-on collision that almost killed his wife, Rachel. Just as your family has experienced the life-shattering consequences of a preventable motor vehicle collision, weve had our own devastating experiences, all of which were caused by Teslas autonomous driving technology being released onto the roadways without the necessary safeguards, they write.Teslas Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, which are considered Level 2 systems that require drivers to pay attention, are both covered under the rule. Since it was implemented, Tesla has reported over 1,800 crashes to the federal government. An analysis of the crash data shows Tesla accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to NHTSA through October 2024.The families note that the data reporting rule has led to important regulatory decisions, like the December 2023 recall of over 2 million Tesla vehicles equipped with Autopilot. The recall wasnt a physical recall, but rather an over-the-air software update meant to address issues around driver inattention and Teslas warning systems, which NHTSA said has contributed to hundreds of crashes and dozens of deaths. NHTSA later launched a probe into whether Teslas software fix was sufficient to address the defect. The families urge Duffy to keep the rule in place and ensure active investigations into Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving continue free from improper influence.During his confirmation hearing, Duffy was asked by Senate Democrats whether he would allow safety investigations into Teslas advanced driving technology to proceed, given Musks status as a major donor and special advisor to Trump. Duffy said he would commit that I will let NHTSA do their investigation.See More: