Source: Zhitong Finance

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is directing$Tesla (TSLA.US)$Pressure has been placed on the company to respond to changes made to its autonomous driving assistance system (Autopilot). This review is due to the fact that Tesla consumers continue to have crashes while using their autonomous driving systems, such as 20 Tesla accidents in December 2023. Tesla tried to solve the problem through software updates, but NHTSA found that the system's reminders and controls were insufficient, and the driver still needed to pay attention at all times. As a result, Tesla agreed to recall more than 2 million cars in December 2023, making it the company's largest recall to date.

On May 7, in a letter posted on its official website, NHTSA requested Tesla to provide some data before the July 1 deadline, such as how many kilometers were driven with an autonomous driving system and how many times the driver was reminded by the system to hold the steering wheel. Additionally, NHTSA is also reviewing Tesla's policy to suspend the use of Autopilot features for a week after drivers don't concentrate on driving to accumulate violations. According to a letter sent to Tesla by NHTSA on May 6, Tesla must provide information to regulators before the July 1 deadline or face up to $135.8 million in fines.

The recall is aimed at improving Tesla's driver engagement system, which monitors whether drivers are safely using functions such as traffic sensing cruise control, lane keeping, and automatic steering, which are all part of the autopilot. Since the recall, at least 20 Tesla cars have been involved in crashes believed to have used the system, according to a document on the NHTSA website.

Prior to the “recall and remedy” investigation, the agency conducted a three-year investigation and found that from January 2018 to August 2023, safety issues with Tesla autopilots caused at least 467 collisions and 14 deaths. NHTSA concluded that the drivers involved in these accidents “were not fully engaged in the driving task, and the warning provided by the autopilot when activating the autonomous driving function did not sufficiently ensure that the driver focused his attention on the driving task.”

Tesla's driver participation system, sometimes called a driver monitoring system, includes a torque sensor on the steering wheel to detect whether the driver places his hand on the steering wheel, and an in-car camera to monitor the driver's gaze. They should alert any unfocused driver to be prepared to steer or brake at any time.

Since issuing the autopilot recall update, NHTSA has been requesting detailed accident data from the electric vehicle manufacturer, including data and video stored on or transmitted from its car, which the company has retained. They also requested records from Tesla's engineering team and their methods for “safety defect determination decisions,” “problem investigation,” “action design including human considerations (initial and modification),” and “testing.”

Tesla is undergoing a massive restructuring and massive layoffs. The company has yet to reveal the number of potential layoffs in its autopilot and vehicle safety engineering teams. For about a decade, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised that Tesla is about to usher in a breakthrough in autonomous driving technology. As sales of Tesla electric vehicles declined in the first quarter, Musk has been focusing investors' attention on his dream of future Tesla artificial intelligence products, including robotic taxis and “sentient” humanoid robots that can work in factories.

edit/ruby