NHTSA Steps Up Investigation Into Tesla's Autopilot System Said To Be Less Responsive To Accidents

Tesla's autopilot system is considered to still have many weaknesses. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), last week said that it was stepping up its investigation into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with the advanced Autopilot driver assistance system. This step is necessary before they order a recall of the product.

The US auto safety agency in August last year opened a preliminary evaluation to assess the performance of driving systems in 765,000 vehicles after about a dozen accidents involving autonomous driving systems in which a Tesla vehicle crashed into a stopped emergency vehicle. Last Thursday they also identified six additional accidents.

NHTSA is stepping up its investigation into engineering analysis, which should be carried out before demanding a recall of the Tesla product if it deems it necessary.

Auto safety regulators are reviewing whether Tesla vehicles can adequately ensure drivers pay attention while the vehicle is moving. The agency added evidence showing that drivers in most of the crashes reviewed had adhered to Tesla's warning strategy that seeks to attract drivers' attention, but raises questions about its effectiveness.

In 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board criticized Tesla's ineffective "driver engagement monitoring" following the fatal Autopilot crash in 2018 and said NHTSA had provided "little oversight."

Every day that Tesla disregards safety rules and misleads the public about its "Autopilot" system, our roads become more dangerous. I'm glad that @NHTSAgov is escalating its probe. https://t.co/ix1xiCxCia

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) June 9, 2022

NHTSA said the upgrade was "to expand existing crash analysis, evaluate additional data sets, conduct vehicle evaluations, and to explore the extent to which the Autopilot system and associated Tesla systems may exacerbate human factor or behavioral safety risks by impairing the effectiveness of driver supervision."

NHTSA said it had reports of 16 accidents, including seven incidents of injury and one death, involving a Tesla vehicle on Autopilot hitting a stationary first responder and a road maintenance vehicle.

Democratic Senator in the US, Ed Markey, praised the increased oversight of NHTSA. "Every day Tesla ignores safety rules and misleads the public about the 'Autopilot' system, our path becomes more dangerous," he wrote on Twitter.

NHTSA said its analysis showed that Forward Collision Warning was activated in most incidents shortly before impact and that subsequent Automatic Emergency Braking intervened in about half of the accidents.

"On average in these crashes, Autopilot aborts control of the vehicle less than one second before the first impact," the agency added.

NHTSA notes that "where incident video is available, the approach to the first responder scene will be visible to the driver 8 seconds before impact on average."

The agency also reviewed 106 Autopilot crash reports and said about half of them, "there are indications that drivers are not responsive enough to the needs of dynamic driving tasks."

"Driver's use or misuse of vehicle components, or unintentional operation of the vehicle does not necessarily preclude system failure," the agency said.

Tesla Autopilot System and Environmental Constraints

The NHTSA also found that in about a quarter of the 106 crashes, the main crash factor appeared to be related to the operation of the system where Tesla said the limitations may exist in places such as highways other than restricted-access highways, or when in a visibility environment involving factors such as rain, snow, or ice.

Tesla says the Autopilot system allows vehicles to brake and steer automatically in their lane, but doesn't make them capable of self-driving.

An NHTSA spokesman said advanced driving assistance features can promote safety "by helping drivers avoid accidents and reduce the severity of accidents that do occur, but like all technology and equipment in motor vehicles, drivers must use them properly and responsibly."

Last week, NHTSA said it had asked Tesla to respond to all of their inquiries by June 20 after receiving 758 reports of unexpected brake activation related to Autopilot in a separate investigation of 416,000 new vehicles.

Separately, NHTSA has opened 35 specific crash investigations into incidents involving Tesla vehicles, in which Autopilot or other sophisticated systems were allegedly used involving 14 reported deaths since 2016, including an accident that killed a person three months ago in California.

NHTSA asked a dozen other automakers including General Motors, Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen to answer questions about "driver engagement and attention strategies" using driver assistance systems" during Tesla's investigation but have not released their responses to all the reports.