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Missy Cummings Would Have Received Death Threats for Joining NHTSA

When Missy Cummings erased her Twitter account, autoevolution got in touch with her to understand what happened. She politely said she could not do interviews now. An article from Tech Crunch revealed what can be the main reason for that: death threats from Tesla fans after she was invited to join NHTSA as a safety adviser.
Missy Cummings Allegedly Received Death Threats for Joining NHTSA 23 photos
Photo: Twitter
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That makes a lot of sense. Cummings is considered to have a thick skin and has never shied away from discussions on Twitter. Tech Crunch said she tried to remain there by first protecting her account. It was apparently not enough. The former military and fighter pilot would probably not have deleted her Twitter if the menace was not minimally credible.

According to Tech Crunch, the threats are now under investigation, but it did not mention who is in charge. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about that when the ones behind them are in jail.

Another update in Cummings’ case is that the new safety adviser has resigned her position in the Veoneer board of directors. Reuters brought up the information, and the researcher confirmed that she accepted the position at NHTSA.As a result, starting with November 1st, she will no longer work for the Swedish LiDAR manufacturer.

Being part of the company’s board was the main point of criticism Tesla fans made about Cummings appointment to the NHTSA role. They claimed that she was biased. We’ve written an article explaining why there’s no prerequisite for advisers to have no interests in companies: they are sought for their expertise, and their opinions are not mandatory.

Despite that, the autonomous driving tech researcher must have felt her work at NHTSA would be easier if it was not disputed as biased because of financial interests. Now, she’ll only be accused of bias for expressing the same concerns other specialists share about Tesla. Putting regular drivers to the test on public roads with not validated beta software is just one of them.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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