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    • The US agency says Tesla’s statements imply its vehicles can drive themselves; they can’t
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    The US agency says Tesla’s statements imply its vehicles can drive themselves; they can’t

    Online Niel Posted on

    Tom Krisher
    | Associated Press

    Detroit — The federal Highway Safety Agency said Tesla tells drivers in public statements that its vehicles can drive themselves, conflicting with owner manuals and briefings with the agency saying electric vehicles need human supervision.

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires the company to “review communications” to ensure messages are consistent with user instructions.

    The request came in an email to the company in May from Gregory Magno, a division chief in the agency’s Office of Defect Investigation. It was attached to a letter requesting information about a probe into accidents involving Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system in low visibility conditions. The letter was posted on the agency’s website on Friday.

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    The agency began the investigation in October after receiving reports of four accidents involving “fully autonomous driving” when Teslas encountered glare from the sun, fog and airborne dust. An Arizona pedestrian was killed in one of the crashes.

    Critics, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have long accused Tesla of using misleading names for its partially automated driving systems, including “Full Self-Driving” and “Autopilot,” both of which are considered by owners to be fully autonomous.

    The letter and email raise further questions about whether Full Self-Driving will be ready for use without human drivers on public roads, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has predicted. Much of Tesla’s stock valuation depends on the company deploying a fleet of autonomous robotaxis.

    Musk, who has promised self-driving vehicles before, said the company plans to run the self-driving Models Y and 3 without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels will be available in 2026, starting in California and Texas, he said.

    A message was sent Friday seeking comment from Tesla.

    In the email, Magno writes that Tesla informed the agency in April of a free trial offer of “Full Self-Driving” and pointed out that the owner’s manual, user interface and a YouTube video tell people to stay alert and in full control of their vehicles.

    But Magno cited seven posts or reposts by Tesla’s account on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, that Magno said indicated Full Self-Driving was capable of driving itself.

    “Tesla’s X account reposted or approved posts depicting disabled driver behavior,” Magno wrote. “We believe Tesla’s posts conflict with its stated messages that the driver must maintain continuous control of the dynamic driving task.”

    The posts may encourage drivers to view Full Self-Driving, which now has the word “supervised” next to it in Tesla’s materials, to see the system as a “driver or robotaxi, rather than a partial automation/driver assistance system that requires a persistent attention. and intermittent driver intervention,” Magno wrote.

    On April 11, for example, Tesla posted a story about a man who used full self-driving to travel 13 miles (21 kilometers) from his home to an emergency room during a heart attack, immediately after the free trial started on April 1st. the Full Self-Driving version helped the owner “get to the hospital when he needed immediate medical attention,” the post said.

    Additionally, Tesla says on its website that using Full Self-Driving and Autopilot without human supervision depends on “achieving reliability” and regulatory approval, Magno wrote. But the statement is accompanied by a video of a man driving on local roads with it. Hands on knees, with a statement that “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. The car drives itself said.

    In the letter seeking information on low-visibility driving, Magno wrote that the investigation will focus on the system’s ability to operate in low-visibility conditions caused by “relatively frequent traffic occurrences.”

    Drivers, he wrote, may not be told by the car that they should decide where Full Self-Driving can safely operate, or fully understand the system’s capabilities.

    “This investigation will consider the adequacy of the feedback or information the system provides to drivers to enable them to make a real-time decision when the system’s capacity has been exceeded,” Magno wrote.

    The letter asks Tesla to describe any visual or audio warnings drivers receive that the system “cannot detect and respond to any low visibility condition.”

    The agency gave Tesla until Dec. 18 to respond to the letter, but the company can ask for an extension.

    That means the investigation is unlikely to end until President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, and Trump has said he will put Musk in charge of a government efficiency commission to audit agencies and root out fraud. Musk spent at least $119 million on a campaign to elect Trump, and Trump has spoken out against government regulation.

    Auto safety advocates fear that if Musk gains some control over NHTSA, full self-driving and other investigations into Tesla could be derailed.

    Musk has even floated the idea of ​​him helping develop national safety standards for self-driving vehicles.

    “Of course the fox wants to build the shelter,” said Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit watchdog group.

    He added that he couldn’t think of anyone who would agree that a business mogul should be directly involved in regulations affecting the mogul’s companies.

    “This is a huge problem for democracy, really,” Brooks said.

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