Two lawmakers ask U.S. regulator about Tesla crashes, safety probes

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON – Two U.S. lawmakers who chair subcommittees overseeing auto security requested the federal auto security regulator for a briefing on its probes into crashes involving Tesla Inc electrical autos utilizing Autopilot and superior driver help techniques, in keeping with a letter seen by Reuters.

U.S. Senator Gary Peters and Consultant Jan Schakowsky, each Democrats, stated within the letter to the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) they had been involved that “federal investigations and up to date reporting have uncovered troubling questions of safety” at Tesla.

The lawmakers requested “given the mounting variety of fatalities involving Tesla autos crashing into tractor trailers … has NHTSA thought-about opening a defect investigation into this concern?”

The letter added “does NHTSA strike a stability between investigative thoroughness and addressing pressing, rising dangers to motorcar security?” and if the company has sufficient assets and authorized authority to correctly examine superior driver help techniques.

NHTSA didn't instantly remark. In July, NHTSA Administrator Steve Cliff informed Reuters he wished to finish the investigation into Tesla’s superior driver help system Autopilot “as shortly as we probably can however I additionally wish to get it proper. There’s numerous info that we have to comb by means of.”

Tesla, which has disbanded its press workplace, didn't instantly remark. Tesla’s web site says that Autopilot permits autos to steer, speed up and brake mechanically and “require lively driver supervision and don't make the car autonomous.”

Since 2016, NHTSA has opened 38 particular investigations of crashes involving Tesla autos and the place superior driver help techniques resembling Autopilot had been suspected of getting used. A complete of 19 crash deaths have been reported in these Tesla-related investigations.

Final month, NHTSA stated it opened a particular investigation into the crash of a 2020 Tesla Mannequin 3 car that killed a motorcyclist in Utah.

In June, NHTSA upgraded its defect investigation into 830,000 Tesla autos with Autopilot involving crashes into parked emergency autos, a required step earlier than it might search a recall. That investigation was first launched in August 2021.

On June 15, NHTSA stated Tesla reported 273 car crashes since July 2021 involving superior driving help techniques, greater than another automaker.

The lawmakers requested if NHTSA has decided whether or not Tesla has carried out safeguards to forestall superior driver help techniques “from being activated when the car is just not throughout the applicable working circumstances?”

The Nationwide Transportation Security Board and others have questioned if Tesla is doing sufficient to make sure drivers concentrate whereas utilizing Autopilot.

“Has any NHTSA investigation discovered that a design which permits the operation of an ADAS in circumstances it isn't designed for constitutes a defect?” the lawmakers wrote, utilizing the acronym for superior driver help techniques.

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