Tesla isn’t preventing the misuse of its Autopilot feature like it should, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is calling the company out because of it.
During a hearing on Tuesday about a March 2018 Tesla crash that resulted in the driver’s death due to misuse of the Autopilot feature, the NTSB said that Tesla needs to do more to improve the safety of its Autopilot feature.
According to multiple reports, the NTSB made Autopilot safety recommendations to six automakers — including Volkswagen, BMW AG, and Nissan — in 2017, and Tesla is the only one that has yet to respond.
The board also determined that the driver of the 2018 crash was playing a video game on his phone instead of paying attention to the road. During Tuesday’s hearing, the NTSB said that while the driver was definitely distracted and was relying solely on the Autopilot function, the car’s forward-collision warning and automatic emergency brake system did not activate, according to CNBC.
“If you own a car with partial automation, [you do] not own a self-driving car. So don’t pretend you do,” said NTSB Chair Robert Sumwalt during the hearing.
Tesla’s Autopilot has come into question before, but mostly regarding drivers’ actions rather than Tesla’s technology. Drivers have fallen asleep behind the wheel, letting their Tesla model take control through the Autopilot feature, but the company cautions that this is definitely not what drivers should be doing.
“While using Autopilot, it is your responsibility to stay alert, keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times, and maintain control of your car. Before enabling Autopilot, the driver first needs to agree to ‘keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times’ and to always ‘maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle,’” Tesla’s support page on Autopilot reads.
Tesla had its first Autopilot fatality in 2016, but the NTSB reported that the driver was at fault for not paying attention. However, the NTSB also said that Tesla “could have taken further steps to prevent the system’s misuse,” according to Reuters.
Digital Trends reached out to Tesla to comment on Tuesday’s hearing, as well as to find out what it is doing to ensure that drivers use the Autopilot feature properly. We will update this story when we hear back.
Related Posts
Tesla Model 3 got outsold by an EV from a Chinese smartphone brand
The Chinese smartphone maker delivered 258,164 units of its first EV. Meanwhile, Tesla sold only 200,361 Model 3s, marking the first time since Tesla's Chinese launch that another brand has overtaken it in the world's largest EV market.
Your future BMW electric M3 will still sound like a real M car
Instead of trying to invent a new "sound of the future" filled with abstract spaceship hums and digital warbles, BMW’s Motorsport division is digging into its own history books. New videos from the development team reveal that the upcoming electric M3 will feature a synthetic audio system built from high-fidelity recordings of the brand’s most iconic internal combustion engines. We aren't talking about generic engine noises here; BMW is literally sampling the legends.
This is the tech that makes Volvo’s latest EV a major step forward
The 2027 Volvo EX60 boasts engineering improvements in a package that’s likely to have mass appeal. It’s based on a new architecture that offers improved range and charging performance, backed by software with now-obligatory AI integration. And as a five-seat SUV similar in size to the current Volvo XC60 — the automaker’s bestselling model — it’s exactly the type of car most people are looking for.