Tesla is limiting the use of its Autopilot driver-assistance software as part of a two-million-vehicle recall. This comes as one of the first results to come from an ongoing multiyear investigation by the U.S.’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA says that the way Tesla’s cars check to see if drivers are paying attention to the road while using Autosteer, an Autopilot feature.
However, the recall, which is the largest in Tesla’s two-decade history, promptly faced criticism from experts and lawmakers. They argued that introducing new warnings and alerts is unlikely to address the fundamental flaw in Autopilot: Tesla's failure to restrict where drivers can activate it in the first place.
The recall comes over two years after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiated an investigation into Autopilot following a series of incidents where Teslas collided with parked emergency vehicles. During this period, the agency reviewed over 900 crashes involving Autopilot. The findings indicated that Autopilot's crucial Autosteer feature might lack adequate controls to prevent driver misuse, such as employing the feature outside the controlled-access highways for which it was intended.
The notice mentioned that Tesla did not agree with the agency's conclusions; however, it began issuing remote software updates, as stated by NHTSA.
Officials and lawmakers expressed concern that NHTSA may have been reluctant to come down harder on the automaker, which has a cult like following among consumers and enormous influence over the country’s transition to electric vehicles — a priority for the Biden administration. However, NHTSA said its investigation into Autopilot remains open, and some Tesla critics held out hope that the recall may not be NHTSA’s final action.
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