Tesla facing new NHTSA investigation after extending hands-free driving periods on autopilot, despite 35 self-driving car crashes linked to system that killed 17
Tesla facing new NHTSA investigation after extending hands-free driving periods on autopilot, despite 35 self-driving car crashes linked to system that killed 17
- The NHTSA is probing Tesla’s ‘Elon Mode’ which allows drivers to remove their hands from the wheel for extended periods of time
- The setting was discovered by a hacker back in June
- New probe comes as NHTSA officials are already looking into 42 collisions believed to involve the car’s driver assistance software
Federal highway safety officials are demanding Tesla[3] hand over records connected to a setting that allows drivers to go hands-free for extended periods.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sent a special order to the automaker to come clean on the secret configuration known as ‘Elon Mode.’
When a Tesla driver uses Autopilot, Full Self-Driving or FSD Beta, and removes their hands from the wheel for an extended period of time, a symbol appears on the screen and will ‘nag’ the driver into returning their hands to the wheel.
‘Elon Mode,’ originally discovered in June, allows a driver to disable the ‘nag.’
NHTSA’s new inquiry comes as the agency is already probing[4] at least 42 collisions believed to involve the driver assistance software.
The Tesla crashes under investigation include 23 fatalities since 2016, including two pedestrians and two motorcyclists, according to data.
Federal highway safety officials are demanding Tesla hand over records connected to a setting that allows drivers to go hands-free for extended periods
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sent a special order to the automaker to come clean on the configuration known as ‘Elon Mode.’ Pictured: Tesla CEO Elon Musk
In a letter [5]sent to Tesla’s legal counsel, NHTSA officials said they believe the hack may be of grave danger to the general public.
The highway safety administration shared they are worried more drivers ‘may attempt to activate’ the so-called ‘Elon Mode’ as more cars hit the market.
‘The resulting relaxation of controls designed to ensure that the driver remain engaged in the dynamic driving task could lead to greater driver inattention and failure of the driver to properly supervise Autopilot,’ NHTSA’s John Donaldson wrote.
The letter was initially sent to Tesla’s head of legal on July 26 and the special order was to be signed and returned by August 25.
Should Tesla not respond by August 25, Donaldson shared that they could face fines of up to $26,000 per day.
DailyMail.com reached out to NHTSA for comment and to see if Tesla promptly responded to the special order.
One representative confirmed that the matter is still an ‘open investigation’ and shared that they do not comment on open investigations.
‘The public file will be updated once the response has been reviewed and processed for publication,’ the representative wrote in an email.
The investigation itself is more than two years in the process, however, as Donaldson wrote that a preliminary investigation was first opened on August 13, 2021.
The preliminary investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot feature was later upgraded to a full engineering analysis in June 2022.
This is the disclaimer on Tesla’s video showing a driver using the Autopilot feature on the car
The NHTSA is investigating this 2018 wreck in which a Tesla electric SUV crashed into a barrier on US Highway 101 in Mountain View, California, killing the driver
Federal investigators are probing at least 42 collisions believed to involve Tesla’s driver assistance software. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is seen above
The general investigation into recent Tesla crashes all involve cases where driver assistance systems such as Autopilot were suspected of being used.
Tesla, which has disbanded its press department and did not respond to a request for comment, says the systems requires active supervision from a human driver.
Eight crashes are related to ‘move over laws’ which requires cars on the road to move into the opposite lane when emergency vehicles are stopped on the shoulder.
In one such case, a Tesla slammed into the rear of a stopped fire truck in Walnut Creek, California in February, killing the driver of the Tesla Model S.
That crash came even after Tesla issued a proactive update to Autopilot last year, which slows the vehicles when they detect stationary emergency vehicles.
It was previously claimed that stationary emergency vehicles’ flashing lights can confuse the car’s sensors, which are used for self-driving.
Separately, three crashes under NHTSA’s investigation involve what is termed ‘heavy truck underride’ — meaning the Tesla plowed underneath the trailer of a big-rig.
In once case in July of last year, a couple were killed with their Model S plowed under a parked semi-trailer at a rest stop in Ruskin, Florida.
Authorities said the two killed, a 66-year-old woman who was driving the Tesla and her passenger, a 67-year-old man, were from Lompoc, California.
The latest crash under investigation, which occurred in July in Virginia, also involved a Tesla running beneath a heavy truck.
A Tesla Model S slammed into the rear of a stopped fire truck in Walnut Creek, California in February, killing the driver
In July of last year, a couple were killed with their Model S plowed under a parked semi-trailer at a rest stop in Ruskin, Florida
Baby Charlie Chhim died after a Tesla Model 3 and Subaru Impreza collided head on in South Lake Tahoe, California. The 17-year-old driver of the Subaru also died
The Fauquier County Sheriff’s office in Virginia said in a statement to the AP that on July 19, a Tesla ran underneath the side of a tractor-trailer pulling out of a truck stop.
The Tesla driver was killed in the crash.
The department says the truck driver was charged with reckless driving.
Sheriff’s office spokesman Jeffrey Long said the possible role of automated driving systems in the crash is under investigation.
The sheriff’s office ‘is investigating the crash to determine the cause and any potential culpability,’ Long said in an email. ‘The NHTSA is also involved and will contribute their expertise toward any investigative conclusion.’
The other crash last month under NHTSA investigation occurred on July 5 in South Lake Tahoe, California.
State police said a Tesla Model 3 and Subaru Impreza collided head on during the evening, and the 17-year-old driver of the Subaru died soon after.
Charlie Chhim, a three-month-old infant that had been traveling in the Tesla, died from his injuries several days later.
‘In the blink of an eye, our lives have been forever shattered as baby Charlie has now been declared brain dead from injuries sustained in this tragic accident,’ the baby’s aunt wrote on a GoFundMe[6] campaign for the family.
In a May 2016 crash in Florida, the roof of this Model S was sheared off when it struck the underside of a trailer, killing the driver
The remains of a Tesla vehicle are seen after it crashed in The Woodlands, Texas in April 2021. The NHTSA is investigating the crash in relation to driver assist software
Last year, some 43,000 Americans died in car wrecks, and Tesla’s defenders often argue that the carmaker is unfairly singled out over the novel nature of its technological advances.
Tesla publishes safety data[7] arguing that its vehicles using Autopilot have far fewer crashes than the US average, based on miles traveled.
NHTSA typically opens more than 100 ‘special’ crash investigations annually into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues that have, for instance, previously helped to develop safety rules on air bags.
Those are separate from defect investigations opened by the agency to determine if a safety recall is warranted.
Earlier this month, the agency opened one such probe into 280,000 new Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles over reports of loss of steering control and power steering.
References
- ^ Hope Sloop (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Tesla (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ already probing (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ letter (static.nhtsa.gov)
- ^ GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com)
- ^ safety data (www.tesla.com)