Considered The Cause Of The Accident, Tesla Must Stop Passenger Play While The Car Is Running

Tesla stops passenger play permission while the car is running. (photo credit: pixabay)

JAKARTA – One of the highlights of Tesla's electric car is that users can play video games on the front glass of the car which is quite wide. However this is considered very dangerous.

For this reason, electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc will stop allowing video game games to be played on vehicle screens while the electric car is moving. This was emphasized by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Thursday, December 23.

The move follows an announcement by NHTSA on Wednesday, December 22 that it had opened a formal safety investigation into 580,000 Tesla vehicles sold since 2017 over the automaker's decision to allow video game games, played on touchscreens in car windshields, while they were playing. move.

This functionality, known as "Passenger Play," can distract drivers and increase the risk of an accident, NHTSA said.

Tesla has notified NHTSA that a software update will lock the "Passenger Play" feature and render it unusable while the vehicle is in motion, a spokesman for the agency said in a statement.

"NHTSA is continuously assessing how manufacturers identify and protect against tampering hazards that may arise from the error, misuse, or intended use of convenience technologies, including infotainment screens," the agency said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on the matter.

Safety advocates have raised concerns that drivers may not be paying attention to the road, especially when Tesla vehicles are operating in a semi-autonomous mode known as Autopilot.

Driver distraction, most likely from a mobile gaming app, was one of the causes of the fatal crash of a Tesla car operating on Autopilot in California in 2018, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.

NHTSA in August opened a safety investigation into 765,000 Tesla vehicles over its Autopilot system after a series of accidents involving parked emergency systems and vehicles.