New recommendations in Tesla crash probe

washington — The National Transportation Safety Board was to hold a public hearing on Tuesday to establish the probable cause of a fatal March 2018 Tesla Autopilot crash in California and will issue a series of safety recommendations, two people briefed on the matter said on Monday.

The safety board is expected to issue recommendations to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Tesla and a California transportation agency, the sources said. The NTSB issued recommendations after other Tesla Autopilot crashes and planned to reiterate some of the guidance. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. The NTSB and NHTSA did not comment.

There are mounting safety concerns about systems that can perform driving tasks for extended stretches with little or no human intervention, but cannot completely replace human drivers.

Tesla drivers say they are able to avoid holding the steering wheel for extended periods while using the driver assistance system Autopilot, but the company advises drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention.

The NTSB, which criticized Autopilot after a 2016 fatal crash in Florida, also found in September the system’s design permitted a “driver to disengage from the driving task” in a January 2018 California crash.

Autopilot has been engaged in at least three Tesla vehicles involved in fatal US crashes since 2016. —