The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed on Friday that during its three-year investigation into the safety of Autopilot, which it opened in August 2021, it identified at least 13 accidents involving Tesla cars that resulted from one or more deaths and many others resulting in serious injuries where “misuse of the system by the driver, predictably, played an obvious role”.
It also found evidence that the “weak driver engagement/warning system was not adequate for Autopilot’s permissive operating capabilities”, resulting in a “critical safety gap”.
NHTSA also expressed concern that Tesla’s Autopilot name “could lead drivers to believe that the automation has greater capabilities than it actually has and invite drivers to over-trust the system “.
Tesla recalled over two million vehicles in service in December
Tesla said in December that the largest recall in its history, covering 2.03 million U.S. vehicles — or nearly all of its vehicles on American roads — was to better ensure drivers are paying attention when when using its advanced driver assistance system.
After closing the first investigation, regulators opened another, this time to find out whether that recall to install new safety measures for Autopilot was adequate.
NHTSA said it opened the second investigation after identifying concerns about crashes after the vehicles had the in-service recall software update installed, but “and following the results of NHTSA’s preliminary testing of the vehicles fixed”.
This recall investigation involves the Model Y, X, S, 3 and Cybertruck vehicles in the U.S. equipped with Autopilot and manufactured in model years 2012 through 2024, NHTSA said.
The agency said Tesla issued software updates to address issues that appear to be related to its concerns, but did not make them “part of a service recall or otherwise decide to fix a defect that poses a risk unreasonable security”. NHTSA also cited Tesla’s statement “that part of the fix requires both the owner’s option to choose to upgrade and the option for a driver to roll back to the previous version of the software.”
Tesla said in December that Autopilot’s software control systems “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse” and could increase the risk of a crash.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The software updates were not targeted to address issues raised by NHTSA
In February, Consumer Reports, a non-profit organization that rates products and services, said its tests of Tesla’s Autopilot software update found that the changes did not adequately address many of the safety concerns raised by NHTSA and urged the agency to require the automaker to take “stronger action,” saying Tesla’s recall “addresses minor inconveniences rather than addressing real issues.”
Tesla’s Autopilot is meant to let cars steer, accelerate and brake automatically within their lane, while Enhanced Autopilot can help change lanes on highways, but doesn’t make the vehicles autonomous.
One component of Autopilot is Autosteer, which maintains a set speed or following distance and acts to keep a vehicle in its lane.
Tesla said in December that it disagreed with NHTSA’s analysis, but that it would implement an over-the-air software update that would “incorporate additional controls and alerts beyond those already in place on the affected vehicles to further encourage the driver to respect the responsibility to drive at all times whenever Autosteer is activated”.
Then-senior NHTSA official Ann Carlson said in December that the investigation determined more was needed to ensure drivers are engaged when Autopilot is used. “One of the things we’ve determined is that drivers are not always paying attention when this system is on,” Carlson said.
NHTSA opened an investigation into Autopilot in August 2021 after identifying more than a dozen accidents in which Tesla vehicles hit stationary emergency vehicles.
Separately, since 2016, NHTSA has opened more than 40 special investigations into Tesla crashes in cases where driving systems like Autopilot are suspected to have been used, with 23 deaths in crashes reported to date.
Tesla’s recall includes increasing the prominence of visual alerts and disabling Autopilot if drivers do not respond to inattention warnings and additional checks when Autopilot is activated. Tesla said it will restrict use of Autopilot for a week if significant misuse is detected.
Tesla revealed in October that the US Department of Justice had issued subpoenas related to its fully self-driving (FSD) and Autopilot features. Reuters reported in October 2022 that Tesla was under criminal investigation.
In February 2023, Tesla recalled 362,000 vehicles in the US to update its FSD beta software after the NHTSA said the vehicles were not adequately complying with road safety laws and could cause accidents.
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