Tesla has been told by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration that they must submit updated records as part of a safety investigation of their Autopilot feature. Failing to provide the agency with the requested documents could result in significant financial repercussions, with a fine of up to $26,315 per violation per day, with a cap of $131,564,183 for a sequence of daily offenses. The organization began their Autopilot review in 2021 in response to an increase of Tesla vehicles crashing into emergency responders' cars.
The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration has called on Tesla to provide extensive new records as part of an Autopilot safety probe — or else face serious fines as high as $131,564,183. This was prompted by crashes with Tesla vehicles using Autopilot colliding with stationary first responders' vehicles and road work vehicles.
The records the NHTSA seeks include information on which versions of Tesla's software, hardware and other components have been installed in each car that was sold, leased or in use in the U.S. from model years 2014 to 2023, as well as the date when any Tesla vehicle was "admitted into the 'Full-Self Driving beta' program."
Tesla's Full Self-Driving and FSD Beta options are marketing terms which imply some level of autonomous driving capability, however, to date, none of Tesla's driver assistance systems are autonomous. Instead, Tesla vehicles require a driver behind the wheel, ready to steer or brake at any time. Autopilot and FSD only control braking, steering and acceleration in limited circumstances.
The NHTSA has also issued a notice saying that the FSD Beta driver assistance system may lead to "unsafe behavior around intersections" including not stopping at stop signs or proceeding through a yellow light.
Data tracked by NHTSA has identified 21 known collisions resulting in fatalities that involved Tesla vehicles equipped with the company's driver assistance systems — more than any other automaker. In addition, the NHTSA is reviewing a petition from a safety researcher asking the agency to re-open an earlier probe to determine the underlying causes of "sudden unintended acceleration" events.
When asked for comment, Tesla's vice president of vehicle engineering Lars Moravy did not immediately respond.
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