Tesla Autopilot Under Investigation After 11 Crashes Involving Self-Driving Cars

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States has opened a formal safety probe into Tesla’s driver-assistance system known as “autopilot” after a series of crashes involving the company’s partial self-driving cars.

The NHTSA revealed that since January 2018, it had identified 11 crashes in which Tesla cars “have encountered first responder scenes and subsequently struck one or more vehicles involved with those scenes”.

The U.S. regulator stated this on Monday while formally opening the probe, reports Reuters.

According to the NHTSA, it has received reports of 17 injuries and 1 death in the crashes.

“Most incidents took place after dark and the crash scenes encountered included scene control measures such as first responder vehicle lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board, and road cones. The involved subject vehicles were all confirmed to have been engaged in either Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control during the approach to the crashes,” they said.

The NHTSA said the 11 crashes included four in 2021 and most recently one last month in San Diego.

The regulator said it had opened a preliminary evaluation of Autopilot in 2014-2021 Tesla Models Y, X, S, and 3. Tesla does not attach model years to its vehicles, but federal authorities do.

The probe covers an estimated 765,000 Tesla vehicles in the United States, the NHTSA said in opening the investigation.

“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,” investigators said.

While using the self- driving mode, the system can drive the vehicle on its own in many circumstances, but drivers are supposed to keep their hands on the wheel just in case there is a need for them to take over if the Autopilot encounters a situation too complex for it to handle on its own.

Autopilot has come under scrutiny on a number of occasions in recent years.

The NHTSA have investigated Autopilot multiple times, including for a 2016 crash that killed a man in Florida who authorities said had too much confidence in the system’s capabilities.

While automobile safety watchdogs have criticized Tesla for exaggerating Autopilot’s functions, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has said the system is safer than human drivers.

The incidents involving emergency responders occurred in San Diego; Miami; Lansing, Michigan; Montgomery County, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cochise County, Arizona; West Bridgewater, Massachusetts; Cloverdale, Indiana; Norwalk, Connecticut; Laguna Beach, California; and Culver City, California.