NHTSA, the American federal agency responsible for road safety, has just forced Tesla to recall more than 2 million vehicles. In the opinion of the organization, the manufacturer must imperatively strengthen the security of Autopilot, in particular to ensure that the user is ready to regain control of their car.
For more than two years now, Autopilot has been at the center of a federal investigation led by NHTSA, the American federal agency responsible for road safety. The institution decided to open its investigations after several road accidents between Teslas running Autopilot and emergency vehicles (more than 35, including 9 fatal).
Since then, other official investigations have been launched into Tesla’s intelligent driving system. This is particularly the case of the American Department of Justice, which tasked federal agents in February 2023 to investigate the manufacturer’s flagship technology. In Europe, certain authorities have also looked into the risks that Autopilot represents for users. The KBA, the German federal road traffic agency, has notably opened an investigation into the automatic lane change function.
NHTSA points finger at Autopilot failures
Gold, NHTSA has once again sounded the alarm regarding Autopilot. In fact, the agency sent a letter this Tuesday, December 12, 2023 to the manufacturer. In this missive, she states that “the assisted driving system on board its vehicles could, in certain circumstances, be incapable of preventing its misuse by the driver”.
To put it simply, Tesla has not included features that ensure 100% driver alertness when Autopilot is activated. NHTSA hereby compels Tesla to recall more than two million electric cars. Why such an important reminder? Because it concerns all Tesla Model 3, Model X, Model Y and Model S equipped with Autopilot and manufactured since 2016.
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Tesla recognizes its wrongs and deploys a fix
This decision results directly from the two years of investigation carried out by the American agency. “Driving automation technology holds great promise for improving safety, but only when deployed responsibly. Today’s action aims to improve the system by prioritizing safety,” NHTSA wrote in its safety recall report.
For his part, Tesla admitted that current systems were not sufficient to prevent misuse of Autopilot by the driver. In order to comply, the American brand began to remotely deploy a free software update on all affected vehicles. This patch plans to add “additional alerts to those already existing to further encourage the driver to remain in control of their vehicle when Autopilot and AutoSteer are activated”.
Source: NHTSA