Tesla said it would recall 362,000 U.S. vehicles to update its Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software after U.S. regulators said on Thursday that driver-assistance systems did not adequately comply with traffic safety laws and could cause crashes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tesla software allowed vehicles to “exceed speed limits or negotiate intersections in an illegal or unpredictable manner, thereby increasing the risk of a crash.”
Tesla will release over-the-air (OTA) software updates for free, and the electric car maker said it is not aware of any injuries or injuries that may be related to the recall issue. The automaker said there were 18 warranty claims.
Tesla shares fell 1.6% to $210.76 (nearly Rs. 17,420) on Thursday afternoon.
The recall covers 2016-2023 Model S, Model
NHTSA asked Tesla to recall the vehicles, but the company said it disagreed with NHTSA’s analysis despite the recall. The move is a rare intervention by federal regulators into a real-world testing program that the company considers critical to developing self-driving cars. FSD Beta is used by hundreds of thousands of Tesla customers.
The setback for Tesla’s self-driving efforts comes about two weeks before the company’s March 1 investor day, where Chief Executive Elon Musk is expected to tout the electric car maker’s artificial intelligence capabilities and plans to expand its vehicle lineup.
Tesla could not immediately be reached for comment.
NHTSA launched an ongoing investigation into 830,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with the driver assistance system Autopilot in 2021 following a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles. NHTSA is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles are adequate to ensure driver concentration. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that “the investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot and related vehicle systems remains open and active” despite the FSD recall.
Tesla said that in “certain rare circumstances, this feature may violate local traffic or customs regulations when performing certain driving maneuvers.”
Situations where the problem can occur include driving or turning through certain intersections during a yellow traffic light, and changing lanes from certain turn-only lanes to continue going straight, NHTSA said.
“The system may not respond adequately to changes in the posted speed limit or may not adequately account for driver adjustments to vehicle speed to exceed the posted speed limit,” NHTSA said.
Last year, Tesla recalled nearly 54,000 vehicles in the United States equipped with FSD Beta software that could allow some models to “roll to a stop” without coming to a complete stop at certain intersections, posing a safety risk, NHTSA said.
Tesla and NHTSA stated that FSD’s advanced driving features do not allow the car to drive autonomously and require the driver’s concentration.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
