🔗 Share this article

American vehicle safety authorities have commenced an investigation into Tesla vehicles featuring the full self-driving technology due to safety regulation breaches after several collisions.

Safety Agency Finds Safety Regulation Breaches

The federal safety agency declared that the electric carmaker's autonomous driving feature, which requires motorists to stay alert and take control when necessary, had “induced vehicle behaviour that breached road safety regulations”.

This initial assessment by the NHTSA marks the initial phase before potentially requesting a recall of the vehicles if the authority determines they pose a risk to road safety.

Alarming Incident Reports

The regulatory body stated it had received accounts of 2.88 million Tesla vehicles running red traffic lights and moving against the wrong direction during lane switching while using the technology.

NHTSA confirmed it has six documented cases in which a Tesla car, operating with full self-driving engaged, “approached an junction with a red traffic signal, continued to travel into the intersection despite the red light and was later involved in a collision with other motor vehicles in the junction”.

The agency reported that four accidents had resulted in injuries to occupants.

Further Safety Concerns

The NHTSA stated it has found 18 complaints and one news account claiming that Tesla cars, operating at an junction with FSD active, did not stay stopped for the duration of a red light, did not come to complete stop, or did not properly recognize and display the correct traffic signal state in the vehicle interface”.

Several reporters also claimed that FSD “did not provide warnings of the system's intended behaviour as the vehicle was approaching a red light”.

Continuing Regulatory Scrutiny

The full self-driving system, which is more sophisticated than its Autopilot system, has been being examined by NHTSA for twelve months.

In late 2024, the agency began an investigation into over two million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD after four documented crashes in situations of poor visibility, such as bright sunlight, fog or dust clouds. One such accident, in last year, was fatal.

Manufacturer's Official Stance

Tesla's website states that FSD is “intended for operation by a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any time. While these features are engineered to become more capable, the currently enabled features do not render the vehicle self-driving.”

Self-driving car systems continue to face growing examination from safety agencies as the technology advances and practical implementation reveals potential challenges with existing deployments.