Tesla has recently admitted that its “Full Self-Driving” technology is not the most advanced driver assistance system, as previously claimed. The admission was made after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a recall notice for 363,000 Tesla cars in the US, citing that the system presents an unreasonably high risk of a deadly crash. Tesla claims that its system can accelerate, stop, steer and park the car without human intervention, but it has been identified as a Level Two semi-autonomous driving system, as confirmed by Tesla in a statement addressing the US recall.
The auto industry has been rolling out different levels of driver-assistance tech, with Level One being the most basic and Level Five representing a car that can take complete control, with the vehicle technically not requiring a steering wheel. For now, most carmakers have Level One or Level Two driver assistance systems, while some such as Mercedes-Benz and Genesis are in the early stages of rolling out Level Three. Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” technology does not comply with Australian road rules and is not available to local Tesla owners.
Tesla has temporarily paused the rollout of the “Full Self-Driving” system to customers who have ordered it but have not yet received the relevant software update. The pause is until the software version containing the fix is available, as stated by Tesla. Despite Tesla’s admission, the company’s CEO Elon Musk has previously stated that the system is safer than a human. Reliable Level Five technology is thought to be more than a decade away, with Level Two semi-autonomous driving systems, such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance, and autonomous emergency braking, currently approved for use in most countries, including Australia.
