Tesla’s FSD Faces Scrutiny: NHTSA’s Demands on Autopilot Under the Microscope

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has requested a significant volume of information from Tesla regarding its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system following numerous complaints concerning traffic light violations and driving in the wrong direction. The U.S. agency has granted the company a five-week extension to comply with the request for information as part of an investigation into the FSD driver assistance system. Initiated at the end of last year, this investigation emerged from over 60 complaints that Tesla vehicles utilizing FSD ignored red traffic lights or entered opposing traffic lanes. During the preliminary investigation, the Office of Defects Investigation has requested a comprehensive set of data. Notably, NHTSA demands a list of all vehicles manufactured and sold or leased in the U.S., indicating the presence and version of FSD. Moreover, they seek aggregate data on FSD usage in American Teslas and a compilation of all customer complaints, incident reports, lawsuits, and other data linked to FSD traffic rule violations.

For each accident-related incident, Tesla must provide NHTSA with a summary, including “causes and contributing factors.” Additional inquiries involve the use of FSD in accident-involved vehicles, warnings displayed to drivers, work conducted by Tesla to address the issue (including simulations), hardware or software modifications to FSD, explanations of the system’s interaction with traffic lights and “Stop” signs, and the company’s assessment of the problem. NHTSA’s request covers a broad range of FSD operations, and fulfilling it will require considerable efforts from Tesla. The extension provided by the regulator will allow the company to gather and present the necessary information comprehensively.