NHTSA concludes Tesla’s Autopilot system not to blame in fatal accident

By Ronan Glon Published January 20, 2017

The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has closed its investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot suite of semi-autonomous tech features. Officials did not identify any defects, and they will not ask the California-based company to recall every Autopilot-equipped car on the road.

The NHTSA began investigating Tesla’s Autopilot system last year after a 2015 Model S collided with a tractor-trailer that crossed a divided highway in Florida. Autopilot failed to detect the trailer, and the driver, Joshua Brown, became the first known fatality in a car operating semiautonomously. Some blamed Brown’s death on an Autopilot malfunction, while others claimed the tech wasn’t being used properly.

Recommended Videos

Tesla has repeatedly stressed that Autopilot does not make its cars fully autonomous. The system allows the Model S and the Model X to autonomously follow traffic, brake, and make lane changes, but the driver needs to remain alert and ready to take over at all times. State troopers who arrived at the scene shortly after the accident told Reuters they found a DVD player showing a Harry Potter movie, potentially explaining why Brown didn’t brake or swerve to avoid the accident. Interestingly, a witness who was on the scene of the accident before law enforcement told the same source that he did not hear a movie playing.

“At Tesla, the safety of our customers comes first, and we appreciate the thoroughness of NHTSA’s report and its conclusion,” the company stated in a short article published on its official blog.

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has publicly defended Autopilot since the accident first made headlines, and he has emphasized that the system is designed to make driving safer and save lives. On Twitter, he highlighted that the NHTSA’s investigation confirmed his statements.

“The data show that the Tesla vehicles’ crash rate dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer installation,” wrote the NHTSA in its final report.

Contributor

Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…

Topics

Cars

Hertz is selling used Teslas for under $20K, Chevrolet Bolt EVs under $14K

2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently nixed hopes of a regular Tesla model ever selling for $25,000.

But he was talking about new models. For car rental company Hertz, the race to sell used Teslas and other EVs at ever-lower prices is not only still on but accelerating.

Cars

Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say

Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Cars

Robotaxi aside, a $25,000 EV would be pointless, Tesla CEO says

Blue Tesla Model 3 Highland on the road

Enthusiasts expecting to one day put their hands on the steering wheel of a $25,000 Tesla EV may feel like they’ve been taken for a ride.
CEO Elon Musk has just put a serious damper on those expectations, saying that outside of the driverless Robotaxi recently unveiled by Tesla, a regular $25,000 model would be “pointless” and “silly.”
During a conference call with investors, Musk was asked to clarify whether such a model was in the works.
"Basically, having a regular $25K model is pointless,” Musk said. “It would be silly. It would be completely at odds with what we believe." Tesla, Musk continued, has “been very clear that the future is autonomous.”
On October 10, Tesla unveiled its much-awaited robotaxi, called the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The company also unveiled the Robovan, a much larger autonomous vehicle expected to carry people or goods.
The automaker said the Cybercab is expected to be produced in 2026 and cost $30,000. Musk, meanwhile, said that it would be a $25,000 car without specifying if that price tag included federal tax credits.
Tesla’s ambiguity about an affordable entry-level model has been going on for years. In 2020, Musk signaled that a $25,000 Tesla would arrive within three years. It was later reported that Tesla had ditched the idea, instead favoring the development of a robotaxi.
Language within Tesla’s latest financial report still hints that new affordable Tesla models are on the way. But Musk’s latest comments are putting a floor on just how affordable these would be. So far, Tesla’s Model 3 Rear-Wheel-Drive remains the company’s cheapest model, with a base price of $38,990.
Some rival EV makers, meanwhile, are entering the affordable space more aggressively in the U.S.
General Motors has already put out its Chevy Equinox EV at a price of $27,500, including federal tax credits. Volkswagen America says it plans to release an under-$35,000 EV in the U.S. by 2027.