Secretive self-driving car startup Zoox hires former top highway regulator

Mark Rosekind, the former head of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has joined Zoox, a secretive Silicon Valley startup building a fully self-driving car, according to Reuters. He will be its chief safety innovation officer.

Zoox, which has raised more than $200 million in funding, will undoubtedly benefit from having Rosekind's expertise in transportation regulation given its lofty ambition of rolling out self-driving cars that won't even require passengers to pay attention.

NHTSA diaspora: Rosekind isn't the first former NHTSA regulator to join the auto industry—in January, the agency's chief counsel, Paul Hemmersbaugh, joined General Motors. Additionally, Hemmersbaugh's predecessor, Kevin Vincent, joined Faraday Future in 2015, while Alphabet's Waymo has hired several NHTSA officials as consultants or employees, according to Reuters.