Tesla faces a bumpy road ahead, littered with federal regulatory hurdles and pushback from lawmakers. On Wednesday, a group of Democratic lawmakers in Texas called on Tesla to push off its robotaxi launch until Sept. 1, when Texas rolls out a new slate of self-driving laws. "We believe this is in the best interest of both public safety and building public transit operation," the group said in a letter addressed to Tesla's field quality director Eddie Gates. They also asked for "detailed information demonstrating that Tesla will be compliant with the new law" if it goes ahead with the launch. Public safety advocates protested the launch in Austin earlier this month. A group known as The Dawn Project, a tech safety organization that is critical of Tesla's autonomous capabilities, demonstrated a Tesla Model Y with currently available "Full Self Driving" software running past a stopped school bus and hitting a child-sized mannequin. The group said it was a situation where the software misread the elements in the road. "Any human ... following the law would have stopped when they saw the school bus stopped with the lights flashing. They would have stopped," Dawn Project founder Dan O'Dowd told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Friday. O'Dowd, who also runs Green Hills Software, a company that sells technology to Tesla competitors, told CNBC that the software is "nowhere near done" and shouldn't be taking to the streets. "This software does not know how to recognize a school bus," he said. Tesla's FSD capabilities, which feature a standard FSD or FSD supervised, include automatic steering and parking, but have been connected to accidents and fatalities, according to data tracked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Tesla under fire Tesla's brand has taken several hits in recent months with a decline in sales and reputational damage linked to Musk's political activities. Musk was a major supporter of President Donald Trump, funneling hundreds of millions into his reelection campaign and later spearheading his Department of Government Efficiency effort aimed at cutting costs. He left the department at the end of May. Musk's close ties to Trump's White House have caused owners to part with the brand and in some cases led to violence, with showrooms and vehicles targeted in arson and vandalism attacks. But the relationship between Musk and Trump soured earlier this month after the tech titan berated the president's spending bill on X, leading to a drastic selloff in the stock. He later apologized for his social media posts, saying some "went too far." The EV maker is also seeing a global sales decline weighing on key markets such as the U.S. and Europe. Vehicle sales in Europe tanked 49% from a year ago in April, while first-quarter deliveries dropped 13%. The decline was tied to a combination of Musk's politics and heightened competition in the EV market. — CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.