The highest U.S. automotive security regulator has opened a brand new investigation into Tesla’s so-called “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” software program after 4 reported crashes in low-visibility conditions — together with one the place a pedestrian was killed.
The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration’s (NHTSA) Workplace of Defects Investigation introduced Friday that it’s probing the motive force help system to search out out whether or not it could “detect and reply appropriately to diminished roadway visibility circumstances,” akin to “solar glare, fog, or airborne mud.” The company additionally desires to know if different crashes have occurred in these circumstances past those that have been reported.
The investigation comes only one week after Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the prototype of his firm’s “Cybercab,” a two-seater automobile that he mentioned is meant to function a robotaxi, following years of unmet guarantees. Musk additionally claimed on the occasion that Tesla’s Mannequin 3 sedan and Mannequin Y SUV would be capable to function with out supervision in California and Texas in some unspecified time in the future in 2025, although he didn’t supply any particulars about how that may occur.
In April, NHTSA closed an almost three-year probe into Autopilot, the less-capable driver help software program that Tesla gives, after investigating virtually 500 crashes the place the system was lively. The company discovered 13 of these crashes have been deadly. On the identical time that it closed that probe, NHTSA opened a brand new investigation into the recall repair that Tesla had issued to handle issues with Autopilot.
Tesla’s software program additionally faces different authorized threats. The Division of Justice is investigating the claims Tesla has made about its driver-assistance options, and the California Division of Motor Autos has accused Tesla of inflating the software program’s capabilities.
The corporate additionally faces various lawsuits over Autopilot crashes. It settled one of the high-profile circumstances that was set to go to trial earlier this 12 months. The corporate has mentioned up to now that it makes drivers conscious they’re speculated to consistently monitor Full Self-Driving and Autopilot and be able to take over at any second.
The brand new investigation introduced Friday particularly calls out 4 crashes the place the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system was lively, all occurring between November 2023 and Might 2024.
The November 2023 crash occurred in Rimrock, Arizona. It concerned a Mannequin Y that struck and killed a pedestrian. One other crash occurred in January 2024 in Nipton, California, the place a Mannequin 3 crashed into one other automobile on the freeway throughout a mud storm. In March 2024 a Mannequin 3 crashed into one other automobile on the freeway in Crimson Mills, Virginia throughout cloudy circumstances. And in Might 2024, a Mannequin 3 crashed right into a stationary object on a rural highway in Collinsville, Ohio in foggy circumstances. NHTSA famous that somebody was injured within the Might 2024 crash.
NHTSA’s defects investigations staff splits its probes into 4 ranges: Defect Petition, Preliminary Analysis, Recall Question and Engineering Evaluation. The company categorised this new investigation as a preliminary analysis. NHTSA usually tries to finish a majority of these probes inside eight months.
This story has been up to date with extra particulars from NHTSA’s filings.
