Eleven crashes, 17 injuries, one death. That is the tally the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) put on the table Monday when it opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system.
The agency said the crashes date back to January 22, 2018, when a Tesla on Autopilot hit a parked firetruck in Culver City, California. The truck was partly in the travel lanes with its lights flashing while crews dealt with another wreck. Similar crashes followed in Laguna Beach, Norwalk, Cloverdale, West Bridgewater, Cochise County, Charlotte, Montgomery County, Lansing and Miami. In each, a Tesla running Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control struck vehicles at scenes where first responders had set out flashing lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board or cones.
The probe covers about 765,000 vehicles, nearly everything Tesla has sold in the United States since the 2014 model year: the Models S, X, Y and 3 from 2014 through 2021.
What investigators will look at
NHTSA said the investigation will “assess the technologies and methods used to monitor, assist and enforce the driver’s engagement with the dynamic driving task during Autopilot operation.” It will also cover how the system detects objects and events, where it is allowed to operate, and the circumstances that contributed to the crashes. An investigation could lead to a recall or other enforcement action.
“No commercially available motor vehicles today are capable of driving themselves,” the agency said in a statement, adding that every vehicle needs a human driver in control at all times.
Raj Rajkumar, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies automated vehicles, called the probe long overdue. He said driver monitoring should be the top priority, since Teslas rely on steering wheel pressure to check that a driver is engaged. “It’s very easy to bypass the steering pressure thing,” he said. “It’s been going on since 2014.”
Rajkumar also pointed to the camera-only approach. Tesla has dropped radar in favor of cameras and a neural network, which he said handles most objects well but has struggled with parked emergency vehicles and trucks crossing its path. “Clearly the inputs that the neural network was trained on just do not contain enough images,” he said. He added that Tesla’s “full self-driving” system, which selected owners are testing, deserves investigation too.
Earlier warnings
The National Transportation Safety Board has investigated Tesla crashes since 2016. It has recommended that NHTSA and Tesla limit Autopilot to areas where it can operate safely, and that Tesla get a better way to confirm drivers are paying attention. NHTSA has acted on none of this. The NTSB has no enforcement powers.
Last year the NTSB blamed Tesla, its drivers and lax oversight by NHTSA for two crashes in which Teslas ran beneath crossing tractor-trailers, including a 2019 collision in Delray Beach, Florida that killed a 50-year-old Model 3 driver. Neither the driver nor Autopilot braked.
Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said his group was glad to see NHTSA act on its long-standing call. He argued the probe should go well beyond first responder vehicles, because “the danger is to all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians when Autopilot is engaged.”
NHTSA has sent investigative teams to 31 crashes involving partially automated driver-assist systems since June 2016. Of those, 25 involved Tesla Autopilot, and 10 deaths were reported. In June the agency ordered all automakers to report crashes involving fully autonomous vehicles or partially automated systems.
Tesla has disbanded its media relations office, and a message seeking comment went unanswered. Its shares fell 3.5 percent at Monday’s opening bell.
Sources
- TRT World – US launches formal probe into Tesla's Autopilot problems
- The US Government Just Launched a Probe Into Tesla's Autopilot System
