US Expands Investigation Into Tesla Autopilot Crashes
Federal transportation officials are expanding their investigation into crashes involving Tesla's Autopilot system.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today confirmed that it's "upgrading its preliminary evaluation of Tesla Autopilot systems and the technologies and methods used for its human interface to an engineering analysis."
Last summer, the NHTSA opened an investigation into Autopilot in response to 11 crashes. It was coded as a preliminary evaluation (PE), which is essentially level one of an agency review. It's now being upgraded to level two, or an engineering analysis (EA).
"The results of an EA determine whether a safety recall should be initiated or the investigation should be closed. Most EAs are resolved within one year," the NHTSA says on its website.
The Tesla Autopilot EA "allows NHTSA to extend its existing crash analysis, evaluate additional data sets, and perform vehicle evaluations," an NHTSA spokesperson said today.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The crashes in question date back to 2018 and involve accidents "in which Tesla models of various configurations have encountered first responder scenes and subsequently struck one or more vehicles involved with those scenes," according to an August 2021 NHTSA report(Opens in a new window).
"Most incidents took place after dark and the crash scenes encountered included scene control measures such as first responder vehicle lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board, and road cones," the report adds. "The involved subject vehicles were all confirmed to have been engaged in either Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control during the approach to the crashes."
In its statement today, the NHTSA "reminds the
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