Federal auto safety regulators have launched another investigation into Tesla's so-called self-driving technology after dozens of incidents in which the electric vehicle maker's vehicles ran red lights or veered into oncoming traffic.
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal auto safety regulators have not yet reopened. another investigation into Tesla's so-called full self-driving technology after dozens of incidents in which its cars ran red lights or veered into oncoming traffic, sometimes crashing into other cars and injuring people.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Tuesday that it has 58 reports of incidents in which Tesla vehicles violate traffic safety laws while operating in full self-driving mode. In reports to regulators, many Tesla drivers said the cars failed to warn them about the unexpected behavior.
The investigation covers 2,882,566 vehicles, mostly all Teslas, equipped with Full Self-Driving technology, or FSD, of which there are two types. Level 2 driver assistance software, or Full Self-Driving (Supervised), requires drivers to pay full attention to the road. The company is still testing a driverless version that the automaker's owner and CEO Elon Musk has promised to implement for years.
The new investigation follows multiple other investigations into the FSD feature on Teslas, which has been blamed for several injuries and deaths. Tesla has repeatedly stated that the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be prepared to intervene at any time.
Tesla is also under investigation by NHTSA for its “call” technology, which allows drivers to order their cars to drive to their location to pick them up, a feature that has reportedly led to some fender benders in parking lots. A Explore driver assistance features Tesla's 2.4 million vehicles were reopened last year after several crashes in fog and other low visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
Another investigation was launched by NHTSA in August to find out why Tesla appears to be did not report failures promptly agency in accordance with its rules.
Musk is forced to demonstrate that recent advances in driver assistance features have not only eliminated such glitches, but have made them so good that good drivers no longer even need to look out the window. He recently promised deliver hundreds of thousands of such self-driving Tesla cars and Tesla robotaxis on the roads by the end of next year.
Tesla shares fell 1.4% on Thursday.
