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It's a sign that the safety regulator is keeping close tabs on Tesla's so-called Full Self-Driving technology.

U.S. auto safety regulators granted an exemption to federal vehicle safety standards for purpose-built driverless cars made by Zoox, the Transportation Department said in a statement.

The filing came the same day Tesla directors disclosed their decision to grant Elon Musk an interim stock award — valued at $30 billion — while a legal fight over his 2018 pay package drags on.

The  iX3 SUV will be the first of 40 new or updated models. “We’re 109 years old, and it’s by far the biggest single investment into one architecture we’ve ever done,” CEO Oliver Zipse said.

A judge in December reaffirmed an earlier ruling that Tesla must revoke Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package.

Tesla was told by a jury to pay $329 million in damages over a 2019 Autopilot crash in Florida that killed a young woman and seriously injured her boyfriend.

The deal should eventually boost the carmaker’s slowing energy storage business.

The agreement runs through 2033 and includes an upcoming plant in Taylor, Texas, to produce Tesla's next-generation AI6 chip.

The fallout from Elon Musk’s plunge into politics a year ago is still hammering his Tesla business as both sales and profits dropped sharply again in the latest quarter.

With federal incentives meant to encourage EV sales set to disappear later this year, things are likely to get even more challenging in the coming months.