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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed a long - standing investigation into Tesla ’s Autopilot driver assistance system after brush up hundreds of crashes involving its misuse , include 13 that were fatal and “ many more involving serious injuries . ”
At the same sentence , NHTSA is opening a Modern probe to evaluate whether the Autopilot recall fix thatTesla enforce in Decemberis effective enough .
NHTSA ’s Office of Defects Investigation say indocumentsreleased Friday that it complete “ an blanket body of body of work ” which turned up evidence that “ Tesla ’s light driver interlocking organisation was not appropriate for Autopilot ’s permissive operating capability . ”
“ This mismatch result in a critical safety gap between driver ’ expectations of [ Autopilot ’s ] operating capability and the system ’s true capabilities , ” the bureau write . “ This interruption lead to foreseeable abuse and avertable clank . ”
The closing of the initial investigation , whichbeganin 2021 , strike out an end of one of the most seeable cause by the administration to audit Tesla ’s Autopilot package . Tesla is still feeling the pressure sensation of multiple other question , though .
The Department of Justice is alsoinvestigatingthe company ’s claims about the engineering , and the California Department of Motor Vehicles hasaccusedTesla of falsely advertise the capabilities of Autopilot and the more - ripe Full Self - drive genus Beta software . The company is also facing multiple cause regarding Autopilot . Tesla , meanwhile , isnow going“balls to the wall for autonomy , ” harmonise to CEO Elon Musk .
NHTSA said its probe reviewed 956 reported crashes up until August 30 , 2023 . In rough one-half ( 489 ) of those , the agency said either there “ was insufficient data to make an assessment , ” the other fomite was at demerit , Autopilot was institute to not be in use or the crash was otherwise unrelated to the investigation .
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NHTSA said the remaining 467 crashes fell into three buckets . There were many ( 211 ) crashes where “ the frontal plane of the Tesla struck another vehicle or obstruction with adequate time for an attentive driver to respond to forefend or extenuate the clang . It say 145 crash involved “ roadway loss in low traction conditions such as wet roadways . And it pronounce 111 of the crash involved “ roadway leaving where Autosteer was unwittingly disengaged by the driver ’s input . ”
These crashes “ are often hard because neither the system nor the machine driver reacts appropriately , resulting in high - speed differential and high energy clangour outcomes , ” the agency wrote .
Tesla evidence driver they need to ante up attention to the route and keep their hands on the bike while using Autopilot , which it measures via a torque sensor and , in its newer cars , the in - cabin camera . But NHTSA , and other safety groups , have said that these warning and checks do not go far enough . In December , NHTSA sound out these standard were “ deficient to preclude abuse . ”
Tesla tally to issue a recall via a software update that would theoretically increase number one wood monitoring . But that update did not really appear tochange Autopilot much — a thought NHTSA seems to agree with .
Parts of that recall fix require the “ proprietor to choose in , ” and Tesla allow a driver to “ readily reverse ” some of the safeguards , according to NHTSA .
NHTSA spend nearly three geezerhood working on the investigation into Autopilot , and contact or interact with Tesla numerous times throughout the process . It performed many direct interrogation of the crashes , and relied on the company to provide data about them as well .
But the agency criticized Tesla ’s information inone ofthe supporting documents .
“ Gaps in Tesla ’s telematic information produce uncertainty regarding the actual rate at which vehicle operating with Autopilot engaged are necessitate in crashes . Tesla is not aware of every crash involving Autopilot even for severe crash because of disruption in telematic reporting , ” NHTSA write . According to the agency , Tesla “ largely receives information from clangour only with pyrotechnical deployment , ” entail when air bag , seat belt pre - tensioners or the pedestrian impact mitigation feature of the auto ’s hoodlum are triggered .
NHTSA exact that bound to this level mean Tesla is only pull in data on around 18 % of crashes that are report to the police . As a result , NHTSA wrote that the probe reveal crashes for which Autopilot was engaged that Tesla was not notified of via telematics .
