US authorities open an investigation into Tesla after accidents with its autonomous driving system, reigniting the debate on the safety of autonomous cars.
2.9 million Tesla vehicles reviewed
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced the opening of an investigation into 2.9 million Tesla vehicles.tesla vehicles, due to a technical fault with the fully autonomous driving system, resulting in a number of road safety violations.
Tesla is an American electric car manufacturer headed by Elon Musk.
"Automated" piping systems
NHTSA's Office of Defect Investigation has investigated both versions of Tesla's automated driving systems: FSD (Supervised) and FSD (Beta).
Although the use of these systems requires a fully attentive driver, numerous violations were reported, including failure to obey traffic lights and lane changes heading into oncoming traffic.
Incident overview
58 reports of safety incidents have been sent to NHTSA, including more than a dozen accidents and fires resulting in 23 injuries.
More precisely, the American authorities have been investigating these systems for over three years, notably following a serious accident that led to the death of a motorcyclist in 2024, near Seattle.
Controlling automated systems
The safety of automated systems, present in many automotive technologies, is being called into question by the American authorities.
Next year, California will impose liability on autonomous car companies for traffic violations.
Not the first investigation for Tesla
Tesla is also the subject of other road safety investigations.
Tesla's "Summon" technology, which allows drivers to ask their car to pick them up, has caused a number of accidents in parking lots.
Meanwhile, 2.4 million vehicles are being examined in connection with Tesla's driver assistance system. Several accidents were reported in low-visibility conditions, resulting in the death of a pedestrian.
A further investigation was launched in August by the NHTSA to determine why Tesla failed to report certain accidents to the agency within the regulatory timeframe.
The future of Tesla
As of October 9, Tesla shares had fallen by 1.4%.
Elon Musk has promised to put hundreds of thousands of autonomous Tesla cars and Tesla robotaxis on the road by the end of next year.
Is this a risky bet, or a totally Ubuesque one?