Detroit — Whether the government vehicle safety agency is investigating Last year Tesla withdrew the Autopilot driving system Adequate work is done to keep drivers focused on the road.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document posted on its website Friday that Tesla had raised concerns about the December recall of more than 2 million vehicles, nearly all of the cars sold at the time.
The organization promotes the company Conduct a recall The investigation follows a two-year investigation into Autopilot’s driver monitoring system, which measures torque in the driver’s hands on the steering wheel.
The fix involves an online software update to add warnings to drivers. But the company said in the filing that it found evidence of a crash after repairs were made, and Tesla added an update that was not part of the recall.
“This investigation will consider why these updates were not part of the recall or were made to correct a defect that created an unreasonable security risk,” the agency wrote.
A message seeking comment from Tesla was left early Friday morning.
NHTSA said the new recall investigation includes U.S. Model Y, X, S, 3 and Cybertruck vehicles manufactured between 2012 and 2024 equipped with the Autopilot system.
NHTSA also said Friday that it is concerned that the name “Autopilot” “may lead drivers to believe that automated systems are more powerful than they actually are and lead drivers to place undue reliance on automated systems.”
The agency said Tesla reported 20 accidents that apparently occurred after the recall was issued. The agency wants Tesla and other automakers to report crashes involving partial and full self-driving systems.
NHTSA said it will evaluate the recall, including the “significance and scope” of Autopilot controls to address abuse, confusion and use in environments where the system cannot operate.
Tesla also said that car owners can decide whether to opt out of some recall remedies and that it will allow drivers to choose some recall remedies.
There are security lawyers Expressing long-standing concerns Autopilot can keep a vehicle in its lane and away from objects in front of it, but it’s not designed to drive on roads other than limited-access highways.
The investigation comes just a week after Tesla allegedly used Autopilot to hit and kill a motorcyclist near Seattle, with recent recalls raising questions about whether Tesla drivers using Autopilot are doing enough to pay attention to questions on the road.
After an April 19 crash in a suburb about 15 miles northeast of the city, the driver of a 2022 Tesla Model S told Washington State Patrol troopers he was using Autopilot and checking his phone while driving the Tesla.
“The next thing he heard was a loud bang and the car sped off, colliding with the motorcycle in front of him,” the officer wrote in a probable cause document.
The 56-year-old driver was arrested as part of a vehicular homicide investigation “based on his admission of being distracted while driving in self-driving mode and being distracted by his cellphone while driving, trusting the machine to drive for him”. The affidavit said.
The Tesla driver told police he was on his way home from lunch at 3:45 p.m.
The motorcyclist, Jeffrey Nissen, 28, of Stanwood, Washington, was pinned under the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Authorities said they had not independently verified whether Autopilot was in use at the time of the crash.
The Associated Press reported shortly after the recall that experts said the technology the recall relied on might not work.
Last year, Tesla, a leading electric vehicle maker, reluctantly agreed to a recall after NHTSA found that its driver monitoring system was faulty and needed to be fixed.
The system sends a warning to the driver if it cannot detect torque from the hands on the steering wheel, which experts say is ineffective.
Tesla’s official filing said online software changes will add alerts and reminders to keep their hands on the wheel. It may also limit the use of the most commonly used versions of Autopilot, though that’s not entirely clear in Tesla’s filings.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The investigation will begin in 2021, after receiving 11 reports of Tesla’s partially automated system crashing into parked emergency vehicles. Since 2016, the agency has sent investigators to at least 35 crashes in which Teslas used partial Autopilot to cross the path of parked emergency vehicles, motorcyclists or tractor-trailer vehicles, resulting in 17 deaths.
Studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and other investigators have shown that measuring steering wheel torque alone does not ensure adequate driver attention. Experts say night vision cameras are needed to make sure drivers are looking at the road.
