The US regulator takes the latest one Tesla-Recall under the microscope. The question is whether installing new safety measures for the autopilot in two million Tesla cars is sufficient. which the company announced in December. The NHTSA agency said on Friday that there were concerns after accidents occurred with the upgraded vehicles with the update. There are also results from NHTSA’s own tests. Tesla has released software updates that address these concerns, but these are not part of the recall.
Only recently has it come to this another car accident, which reignited the debate about the safety of Tesla’s “Autopilot” driving assistance system. A 28-year-old motorcyclist was on Wednesday evening after a crash with one Tesla Model S killed. The Tesla driver said he was using the Tesla Autopilot feature and was looking at his cell phone at the time of the accident.
Several accidents triggered the investigation
The US electric car manufacturer recalled around two million vehicles in December because there were problems with the autopilot. At the time, the NHTSA criticized the lack of mechanisms to ensure that drivers constantly focused on traffic. The investigation was triggered by a series of accidents in which the autopilot was active. Among other things, Tesla vehicles hit parked ambulances; Some accidents resulted in people losing their lives.
Tesla has been offering this for several years Autopilot system at. The software adapts the speed to the traffic and keeps the vehicle in its lane. The company points out on its website that the driver must keep their hands on the steering wheel and remain alert.
Tesla boss Elon Musk (52) explained just last year: “The company’s value is based primarily on autonomous driving.” But we’re not there yet. A system called “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) that was sold to customers last year cannot function without constant supervision from the driver. Since 2019, the transportation authority NHTSA has… USA Hundreds of accidents involving Teslas in self-driving mode have been counted.
Tesla is currently in crisis mode in other ways too: the electric car maker has this worst quarter long behind him. Sales and profits collapsed.