The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into Tesla’s vehicles, citing concerns over a feature that allows remote driving. A total of approximately 2.6 million Tesla vehicles have been impacted. It started because one of Tesla’s software features—the company is currently promoting—a tool called “Tesla Full Self-Driving,” or FSD—enables, as its name promises, autonomous navigation of Tesla vehicle models on at least limited types of missions under conditions with continuing oversight of operation by human drivers.
The feature in question allows drivers to summon their cars and control them remotely via a mobile application. This kind of remote driving capability, which was introduced along with Tesla’s broader push for autonomous driving, has been cited as one major safety concern—if the system were to malfunction or be used poorly. The NHTSA, which announced earlier this month an investigation into whether Tesla’s remote driving feature posed an unreasonable risk to drivers, passengers, and pedestrians, would be focusing on this issue.
While its FSD does feature automatic lane changing and even forms of intersection navigation, Tesla designed it with its limitations. Marketed as a driver assistance system, the device still demands hands on the wheel and eyes and ears alert, but it is allowed to use a remote control and summon the car where the driver would not be present inside it physically.
This, again, poses new questions as to how effective the car’s safety measures are in an operation carried out from a distance and what potential accidents can result if the vehicle hits something unexpectedly or the control system breaks.
The NHTSA will investigate whether the technology complies with federal safety regulations. The agency has raised past concerns over the advertising of Tesla and the possible misleading of the public regarding the capabilities of the vehicles, which may be seen as fully autonomous even though they are not.
The core method through which Tesla manages its vehicle systems is the over-the-air delivery of its software updates. These updates are what can enhance or fine-tune everything from the ride quality to autonomous driving capabilities, but they do make it harder to track and diagnose problems as they occur.
Owners of Tesla vehicles have come forward with various instances where FSD has shown unexpected behavior; for example, navigating incorrectly through intersections or not recognizing certain objects.
After a series of recalls and scrutiny from regulators around the world, the investigation was indeed extended to Tesla’s vehicles. In recent years, the company has been facing multiple investigations from NHTSA and other safety agencies due to the performance of its self-driving car systems.
A few years ago, the agency issued a recall on certain models for their faulty Autopilot features, which preceded the FSD system. The second theme focuses on the general impact of remote-controlled driving, as this could potentially become a very bad precedent if the safety standards are not defined.
The probe comes amid growing regulatory attention on autonomous vehicle technology. As companies like Tesla, Waymo, and others push towards developing fully autonomous vehicles, governments are grappling with how to regulate these technologies to ensure safety while not stifling innovation.
Tesla’s advanced driver assistance systems are at the forefront of this conversation, with regulators increasingly concerned about the risks involved in rolling out such technologies too quickly without fully addressing safety concerns.
Though Tesla has not had much to say about the probe, it is known to respond to regulators and tweak its technology in light of safety concerns. Tesla has played down the notion that its vehicles are fully autonomous, saying that drivers must be prepared to intervene at any moment.
Despite this fact, the company has been under attack for the sort of words it uses during its advert timing, which critics say tends to mislead customers into thinking that their cars can do more than what they are so far at.
For Tesla, this investigation could bring serious consequences regarding its reputation and future development of autonomous technologies. It is also one of the other reasons that keep it at par with competition in the market, though continuously facing regulatory scrutiny very frequently, for the company has been very aggressively pushing for innovation and relying on over-the-air software updates.
The NHTSA investigation into Tesla’s remote driving feature is part of a broader ongoing probe into how to regulate automated driving systems. It could lead to the regulation of more than 2.6 million vehicles, from changes in rules to fines and recalls, even the establishment of new safety standards for Tesla and other manufacturers that use similar technologies.
For consumers, the investigation stresses exercising caution with automated driving systems that enable either remote or unattended operation of a vehicle. In this increasingly changing technological field, safety must continue to improve by meeting the ever-growing capabilities of these vehicles to ensure adequate testing and regulation before mainstream usage of these features becomes the norm. Of course, for example, Tesla will have to convince the regulators and consumers of the safety and reliability of their cars with autonomous driving capability when already serious concerns emerge from this ongoing investigation.
With this investigation now unfolding, all eyes will be on Tesla and whether it can answer the safety questions raised by the NHTSA.
The resolution of this case will define the future of remote driving and regulation of autonomous vehicles, deciding what companies can safely do in their quest to incorporate new technologies into the larger automotive landscape.
