The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Tesla’s decision to remove a driver monitoring function from its Full Self-Driving Beta (FSD) system, which uses a combination of an internal camera and the steering wheel to detect if the driver is paying attention to the road. In a tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the steering wheel input would be removed in January, and that the change would apply to users with more than 10,000 miles on the FSD Beta.
This move comes as the NHTSA is already investigating 830,000 Tesla vehicles over issues with the Autopilot level 2 system, which has been involved in 14 crashes involving emergency vehicles. Part of this probe is to determine whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure drivers are paying attention while using the feature. The NHTSA is also investigating claims of “phantom braking” in 416,000 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
Additionally, Tesla is reportedly the subject of a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice surrounding its Autopilot system, with prosecutors in Washington D.C. and San Francisco examining whether the company misled consumers, investors and regulators by making unsupported claims about the capability of its driver assist technology.
In an earnings call last year, CEO Elon Musk stated that an update coming in 2023 will “be able to show to regulators that the car is safer, much more so, than the average human”.
Despite including disclaimers on its website that its level 2 systems don’t make the vehicle fully autonomous, there has been some mixed messaging from the company’s CEO, who has said that cars with Full Self-Driving beta will “be able to take you from your home to your work, your friend’s house, to the grocery store without you touching the wheel”.
