Tesla recalls more than 2m vehicles over Autopilot issues
Tesla is recalling more than 2-million vehicles in the US to install new safeguards to prevent the misuse of its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating the electric vehicle company headed by Elon Musk for more than two years over whether its systems adequately ensure drivers pay attention when using them.
Tesla said Autopilot’s software controls “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse”.
Acting NHTSA administrator Ann Carlson said earlier this year that it was “important that driver-monitoring systems take into account that humans over-trust technology”.
Tesla said it would deploy an over-theair software update that would “incorporate additional controls and alerts to those already existing on affected vehicles to further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged”. Autosteer is a component of Autopilot that maintains a set speed or following distance and works to keep a vehicle in its driving lane.
The agency opened a probe in August 2021 into Autopilot after identifying more than a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles hit stationary emergency vehicles.
The NHTSA said Tesla issued the recall after the agency found “Tesla’s unique design of its Autopilot system can provide inadequate driver engagement and usage controls that can lead to foreseeable misuse of the system”.
Autopilot is intended to enable a car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically in its lane, while enhanced Autopilot can assist it in changing lanes on highways, but does not make it autonomous.
Since 2016, the NHTSA has opened more than 36 Tesla special crash investigations in cases where driver systems such as Autopilot were suspected of having been used, with 23 crash deaths reported to date. NHTSA said there might be an increased risk of a crash in situations where the system is engaged, but the driver does not maintain responsibility for vehicle operation and is therefore unprepared to intervene or fails to recognise that Autopilot is disengaged.
The agency investigation will remain open as it monitors the efficacy of Tesla’s remedies. The company will roll out the update to 2-million Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles, the agency said.
The world’s most valuable carmaker, whose shares were down 1% in premarket trading, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The NHTSA closed an earlier investigation into Autopilot in 2017 without taking action.
The National Transportation Safety Board has criticised Tesla for a lack of system safeguards for Autopilot, and the NHTSA for a failure to ensure the safety of Autopilot.