Feds investigating safety of Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ feature

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has launched an investigation into the safety of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature, or FSD, after at least one fatal accident involving a pedestrian.

The investigation is looking into four accidents involving vehicles using the FSD feature. In one, a pedestrian was struck in killed, according to the agency. In another, there was an injury.

In each the accidents, the Tesla car using FSD “experienced a crash after entering an area of reduced roadway visibility….from conditions such as sun glare, fog, or airborne dust,” said the agency’s statement about the start of the probe.

FSD is at the center of Tesla’s plans for future growth and profitability. The feature, which is sold as an $8,000 option, requires drivers to stay in the driver’s seat and be ready to take control of the vehicle in order to avoid accidents. But Tesla and CEO Elon Musk insist the feature is already safer than human-controlled driving, and the company has announced plans for true self-driving cars that would come without steering wheels, accelerators or brake pedals.

Musk last week unveiled plans for a fleet of self-driving “robotaxis” and a service that allows Tesla owners to rent out their cars for a ride service in order to make money when they aren’t using their cars. But while Musk has insisted such offerings would enable Tesla to become the most valuable company in the world, investors were mostly unimpressed with the presentation, sending shares of Tesla down nearly 9% the day after the evening presentation.

This is not the first time that the NHTSA has announced it is investigating Tesla’s self-driving features. In February 2023 the agency ordered a recall to change the FSD software on all of the more than 360,000 Teslas then on US roads with the feature. It found FSD “led to an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety based on insufficient adherence to traffic safety laws.” And it warned that FSD could violate traffic laws at some intersections “before some drivers may intervene.”

“The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution,” said the recall notice, posted on NHTSA’s website.

In December it ordered another recall of all 2 million Teslas on US roads to make software changes to limit the use of a less robust suite of driver-assist features known as Autopilot, following a two-year probe by the agency of roughly 1,000 crashes in which the feature was engaged.

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