U.S. federal auto safety regulators have initiated a new investigation into Tesla’s full self-driving technology following numerous incidents involving Tesla vehicles running red lights or driving on the wrong side of the road, resulting in collisions and injuries.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disclosed in a recent filing that there have been 58 incident reports of Tesla vehicles violating traffic laws while operating in full self-driving mode. Many Tesla drivers reported that they received no advance warning about the unexpected behavior of their vehicles.
This investigation encompasses 2,882,566 vehicles, which includes virtually all Teslas equipped with full self-driving technology, known as FSD, consisting of two variants. The Level 2 driver-assistance software, or “Full Self-Driving (Supervised),” necessitates drivers to maintain full attention on the road. Meanwhile, the company is still testing an alternative version that does not require driver intervention, a feature that Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has long pledged to introduce.
The latest inquiry comes amid multiple other investigations into the FSD feature on Tesla vehicles, which have been linked to various injuries and fatalities. Tesla has underscored that the system is not capable of autonomous driving and human drivers must be prepared to take control at all times.
Additionally, Tesla is currently under scrutiny by the NHTSA for its “summon” technology, allowing drivers to command their vehicles to drive to them, which has reportedly caused minor accidents in parking lots. Last year, an investigation was launched into driver-assistance features in 2.4 million Teslas following several accidents in foggy conditions, including a fatal incident involving a pedestrian.
In August, the NHTSA initiated an investigation to determine why Tesla allegedly failed to promptly report crashes to the agency as mandated by regulations. Elon Musk faces mounting pressure to demonstrate that the latest enhancements to the driver-assistance features have not only resolved these issues but have also advanced to a level where drivers no longer need to monitor the road.
Musk recently committed to introducing hundreds of thousands of self-driving Tesla vehicles and Tesla robotaxis on the roads by the end of the upcoming year. Following these developments, Tesla’s shares experienced a 1.4% decline on Thursday.
