The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating whether Tesla did enough to fix problems with its Autopilot technology in response to a major recall late last year following multiple crashes involving the driver-assistance system. .
A federal agency has launched an investigation to “evaluate the validity” of Tesla’s December recall of more than 2 million electric vehicles, said to be the largest in the company’s history. According to the submitted documents It was revealed on Friday.
The Austin-based automaker said at the time: The recall consists of an over-the-air software update Applies to Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model X, and Model Y vehicles manufactured in certain years, including those dating back to 2012.
Tesla announced in December that when using Autopilot, drivers are now set to receive “additional controls and warnings” that remind them to keep both hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road. On the same day, Virginia officials announced the use of Autopilot.When in use Pablo Teodoro III, 57, crashed his Tesla into a tractor-trailer, causing a fatal accident.
NHTSA said Friday that it is concerned about whether Tesla’s remedies were sufficient, which may have contributed to the number of crashes that have occurred since Tesla introduced the software update. Bloomberg first reported.
The agency’s latest investigation will “examine why these updates were not part of a recall or determined to fix the flaws that posed an unreasonable safety risk,” according to the filing. ”.
The new study is a setback for Tesla President Elon Musk, who has been the biggest public proponent of the idea of cars driving. Promising immediate “fully autonomous driving” As early as 2014, the billionaire teased his company’s “new safety and autopilot hardware” built into every Model S.
Tesla’s website says Autopilot uses “advanced sensor range” with eight cameras and powerful vision processing to provide 360-degree visibility and a range of up to 250 meters (820 feet). It’s advertised.
“Autopilot allows your vehicle to automatically steer, accelerate, and brake within its lane,” Tesla added.
Still, the company warns that “current Autopilot functionality requires active driver supervision and does not automate the vehicle.”
As Tesla continues to face challenges with Autopilot, Musk aims to develop an unmanned robotoxy called CyberCab by August. This is a high-tech car that he said five years ago would be ready by 2020.
Bloomberg reported that he said on an earnings call this week that it would be difficult to get the green light from regulators for the vehicle, which would eventually become part of a ride-sharing network like Uber without a driver. It was reported that the matter was taken lightly.
“The fact is that if we had conclusive data that self-driving cars are safer than human-driven cars, I don’t think there would be any significant regulatory barriers,” Musk said.
Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Google’s parent company Alphabet already has fleets of driverless Waymo robotaxis on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, and plans to soon expand to Tesla’s home base of Austin, Texas.
However, the expansion of self-driving cars is not without obstacles.
General Motors’ Cruise Corp., for example, is under multiple federal investigations after one of its robotaxis allegedly dragged a pedestrian who collided with another car.
And last year, safety concerns surrounding self-driving cars were sparked after an online DMV report claimed that a Waymo vehicle was “operating in self-driving mode” during a fatal accident in which a small dog “did not survive.” Concerns grew.
As a result, driverless cars won’t be appearing in New York City anytime soon.
Last month, Mayor Eric Adams agreed to allow companies to deploy self-driving cars, but only if a human driver was present.
Adams said the new self-driving car program would be an example of “responsible innovation.”
