Tesla’s once futuristic Autopilot feature is under fire again. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has fired off yet another inquiry into the controversial self-driving tech, demanding answers from the Silicon Valley automaker about its driver assistance systems.
According to sources, the auto safety watchdog issued a request to Tesla on July 3rd to cough up the latest data on the Autopilot program currently equipped in over 800,000 Tesla vehicles. Tesla has until July 19th to fork over the details to the NHTSA, though the company hasn’t commented just yet.
The new probe wants info on how many Teslas have the new “Tesla Vision” cameras – Tesla’s latest attempt at transitioning to a camera-only system sans radar. The cameras are meant to monitor if a driver is paying attention when Autopilot or the beta Full Self-Driving mode are switched on. But that’s seemingly not enough, as the NHTSA probe follows over a dozen incidents in the US that have called Autopilot’s safety into question.
Autopilot (AP) allows Teslas to automatically steer, accelerate and brake in its lane, while Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) can change lanes on highways. The beta FSD mode is meant to eventually handle city driving, Tesla FSD Beta will move out of Beta stage with version 12, Maybe also move from Autopilot and NOA?, but recent crashes suggest it may not be ready for the big time.
Last year, the NHTSA pointed out that 9 out of 11 previous accidents indicated a lack of driver involvement, visual or auditory warnings in the seconds leading up to the collision, and 4 vehicles without any visual or auditory warnings throughout the entire Autopilot usage cycle.
With the latest investigation revving up, is Tesla really prepared to unleash Full Self-Driving on the masses? The new probe throws that into doubt, even as CEO Elon Musk promises robo-taxis self-driving. Think Tesla’s tech is ready for the road ahead?
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