WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) met with Tesla ( TSLA.O ) on Monday and wrote to Twitter Chief Executive Elon Musk about driver control practices.
A Dec. 31 tweet suggested that drivers with more than 10,000 miles using Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) software system should be able to disable the alert that warns drivers to take the wheel. Pay attention. Musk replied: “I agree, an update will come in January.
NHTSA said Monday it is “in contact with Tesla to gather additional information.” The NHTSA statement was previously reported by the Associated Press. Tesla did not immediately comment.
The Auto Safety Agency confirmed that the questions about Musk’s Twitter are related to its ongoing investigation into a defect in the driver assistance system Autopilot in 830,000 Tesla vehicles and stopped emergency vehicles.
NHTSA is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensured that drivers were paying attention, and in most of the crashes previously reviewed, drivers complied with Tesla’s warning strategy, raising questions about its effectiveness.
Tesla sells $15,000 of FSD software as an add-on that allows the vehicles to change lanes and park autonomously. That complements the standard “autopilot” feature, which allows cars to steer, accelerate and brake within their lanes without driver intervention. Both systems use the steering wheel control function.
Last month, NHTSA said it had opened two new special investigations into crashes involving suspected use of advanced driver assistance systems in Tesla vehicles. Since 2016, NHTSA has opened more than three dozen Tesla-specific crash investigations into suspected use of advanced driver assistance systems such as Autopilot in 19 fatal crashes.
In December 2021, NHTSA opened an investigation into Tesla’s decision to allow passengers to play on the vehicle’s “passenger game” on the front center touchscreen, covering 580,000 vehicles, amid concerns about driver distraction.
Shortly after the investigation was launched, Tesla told NHTSA that it would stop allowing video games to be played on in-vehicle screens while its cars are in motion, the agency said.
Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Nick Ziminski
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
