Federal highway safety investigators want Tesla to tell them how and why they developed a fix for the recall of more than 2 million vehicles equipped with the company’s Autopilot partially automated driving system.
Investigators with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are concerned whether the recall will be effective because Tesla has reported 20 accidents since the remedy was sent as an online software update in December.
The recall fix also addresses whether Autopilot is allowed to operate on roads other than limited-access highways. The solution is to increase warnings for drivers on roads with intersections.
But in one The letter to Tesla was posted on the agency’s website Third, investigators wrote that they could not find a difference between the warnings drivers had to heed before the recall and after the new software was released. The agency said it will evaluate whether driver warnings were adequate, especially when the driver’s surveillance camera is obscured.
The agency requested a lot of information about how Tesla developed the fix and focused on how it used human behavior to test the effectiveness of the recall.
‘Remedy not satisfactory’
Phil Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies automated driving safety, said the letter shows the recall solves no problems with Autopilot and is an attempt to placate NHTSA, capital required to be recovered after more than two years of investigation.
“It was clear to everyone watching that Tesla tried to do the least amount of remediation possible to see what they could get away with,” Koopman said. “And NHTSA must respond strongly or other auto companies will begin offering inadequate remedies.”
Safety advocates have long expressed concern that Autopilot, which can keep a vehicle in its lane and at a distance from objects ahead, is not designed to operate on the road is not a limited access highway.
Missy Cummings, a professor of engineering and computing at George Mason University who studies autonomous vehicles, said NHTSA is responding to criticism from lawmakers about its lack of action on autonomous vehicles. dynamic.
“Even though our government is so screwed up, the feedback loop is still working,” Cummings said. “I think NHTSA leadership now believes that this is a problem.”
The 18-page NHTSA letter asks how Tesla used human behavioral science in designing Autopilot and the company’s assessment of the importance of evaluating human factors.
They also want Tesla to identify any jobs that involve evaluating human behavior and worker qualifications. And it asks Tesla to say whether those positions still exist.
A message left by the Associated Press early Tuesday sought comment from Tesla on the letter.
Tesla is in progress lay off about 10% of the workforceabout 14,000 people, in an effort to cut costs for settlement Global sales fell.
Cummings said she doubts that CEO Elon Musk will fire anyone with knowledge of human behavior, a key skill needed to deploy partially automated systems like Autopilot, which do not can drive autonomously and requires humans to always be ready to intervene.
“If you want a technology that depends on human interaction, you better have someone on your team who knows what they’re doing in that space,” she said.
Cummings said her research has shown that once the driving system takes over the control role from the human, there isn’t much left for the human brain to do. Many drivers tend to trust the system and checks too much.
“You can fix your head in one position, you can keep your eyes on the road and you can be a million miles away in your head,” she said. “All the driver monitoring technology in the world still won’t force you to pay attention.”
Is the autopilot on or off?
In its letter, NHTSA also asked Tesla to provide information on how the recall remedy addresses driver confusion about whether Autopilot will be disabled if force is applied to the steering wheel. Previously, if the Autopilot feature was turned off, the driver might not quickly realize that they had to take over driving.
The recall added a function that provides a “more pronounced slowdown” to warn the driver when the autopilot has been disengaged. However, the recall remedy does not automatically activate this function – the driver must do so. Investigators asked how many drivers had taken that step.
NHTSA is asking Tesla, “What do you mean you have a remedy but it’s not actually activated?” Koopman said.
The letter shows NHTSA is looking into whether Tesla has performed tests to ensure that the fixes actually work, he said. “Looking at the remedy, I have a hard time believing that there is so much analysis that these measures will improve safety,” Koopman said.
The agency also said Tesla made safety updates after the recall fix was issued, including efforts to reduce hydroplaning crashes and reduce crashes in fast turning lanes. height. NHTSA said it will look into why Tesla did not include updates in the initial recall.
Safety experts say NHTSA could seek further recalls, restricting Tesla from operating in Autopilot mode or even forcing the company to disable the system until it is fixed.
NHTSA began its investigation into Autopilot in 2021, after receiving 11 reports that Teslas using Autopilot struck parked emergency vehicles. In documents explaining why the investigation ended due to the recall, NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot that resulted in 54 injuries and 14 deaths.
