Musk has accused the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of holding back progress on self-driving technology with its investigations and recalls.

The layoffs at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are part of an effort by the Trump administration to cull the federal workforce.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has laid off 4 percent of its workers, a transportation official said. The agency has raised questions about crashes involving Tesla’s self-driving technology.

Elon Musk's team is eliminating jobs at the vehicle safety agency that launched investigations into deadly crashes involving his Tesla company's cars.