A recent federal report revealed that Tesla’s Autopilot system was involved in 13 fatal crashes due to driver misuse that the automaker should have anticipated and taken action to prevent. The report criticized Tesla for lacking basic safety precautions compared to its competitors. Regulators are now questioning if Tesla’s Autopilot update has adequately addressed these design flaws and prevented further fatal incidents.
These crashes resulted in 14 deaths and 49 injuries, as reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Government engineers found that in many of the crashes, hazards were visible five seconds before impact, giving attentive drivers enough time to avoid a collision.
One notable incident in North Carolina involved a Tesla Model Y hitting a teenager exiting a school bus at highway speed, resulting in serious injuries. The report emphasized a pattern of avoidable crashes involving hazards that attentive drivers could have seen.
Tesla, which disbanded its public affairs department, did not comment on the report. The report condemned Tesla as an industry outlier for allowing Autopilot to operate beyond its intended use and for not implementing a driver engagement system to ensure driver attention.
Regulators criticized Tesla for the Autopilot product name, suggesting it misled drivers into relying too heavily on the system. The report highlighted that competitors use language like “assist” or “sense” to emphasize that their systems require driver collaboration.
A separate investigation by the NHTSA found that Autopilot discouraged drivers from actively participating in driving tasks compared to other systems. This resistance to driver intervention was seen as a hindrance to safe driving practices.
Although Tesla released a software update to address Autopilot concerns, regulators launched a new investigation to determine if the update has effectively prevented misuse and misunderstanding of the system. This comes after a recent incident in Washington where a Tesla on Autopilot struck and killed a motorcyclist while the driver was distracted on their phone.
