U.S. investigates Tesla over collisions
WASHINGTON — The U.S. opened a formal investigation into Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot system after almost a dozen collisions at crash scenes involving first-responder vehicles, stepping up its scrutiny of a system the carmaker has charged thousands of dollars for over the last half decade.
The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers an estimated 765,000 Tesla Model Y, X, S and three vehicles from the 2014 model year onward. The regulator — which has the power to deem cars defective and order recalls — said it launched the investigation after 11 crashes that resulted in 17 injuries and one fatality.
“Most incidents took place after dark and the crash scenes encountered included scene-control measures such as first-responder vehicle lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board and road cones,” the agency said in the document. “The involved subject vehicles were all confirmed to have been engaged in either Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control during the approach to the crashes.”
Tesla shares fell as much as 5.7% before settling down 4.9% to $682.04 at 12:51 p.m. in New York. Representatives for the electric-car maker didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Autopilot is Tesla’s driver-assistance system that maintains vehicles’ speed and keeps them centered in lanes when engaged, though the driver is supposed to supervise at all times. The company has been criticized for years for naming the system in a potentially misleading way. Since late 2016, it has marketed higher-level functionality called Full Self-Driving Capability. It now sells that package of features — often referred to as FSD — for $10,000 or a $199 a month.
A NHTSA spokesperson said the agency’s preliminary investigation will focus on Tesla’s Autopilot system and “the technologies and methods used to monitor, assist and enforce the driver’s engagement with driving while Autopilot is in use.” The agency is looking at crashes in which Tesla’s Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control were engaged.
“We are glad to see NHTSA finally acknowledge our long standing call to investigate Tesla for putting technology on the road that will be foreseeably misused in a way that is leading to crashes, injuries and deaths,” said Jason Levine, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. “This probe needs to go far beyond crashes involving first responder vehicles because the danger is to all drivers, passengers and pedestrians when Autopilot is engaged.”
NHTSA investigated Tesla’s Autopilot in the wake of a 2016 fatal crash and cleared the system early the following year. The regulator has opened at least 30 special crash investigations involving Tesla cars that it suspected were linked to Autopilot, with the pace of probes picking up under the Biden administration.
The first of the 11 crashes that prompted the latest probe occurred in January 2018 in Culver City, California, according to NHTSA. The most recent incident occurred July 10 in San
Diego. Others occurred in Florida, Michigan, Texas, Arizona, Massachusetts, Indiana and Connecticut.
NHTSA announced in June that it would order car manufacturers to report crashes involving automated-driving technology within one day of learning of such incidents. The agency had largely taken a hands-off approach to regulating driver-assistance systems up to that point so as not to stand in the way of their potential safety benefits.
Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, said Autopilot and other hands-free driving systems now offered on cars need technology trained on drivers to make sure they are watching the road when using the feature.