The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into Tesla. The reason: the company allegedly reported accidents that occurred in connection with its driver assistance and self-driving functions such as “Autopilot” far too late. Instead of reporting the incidents within five days, as required, Tesla only submitted the reports months after the accidents.
According to a report by the Associated Press (AP) news agency, the authority is focusing its investigation on the question of why the reports were delayed for so long, whether the reports were complete and whether there may be other previously unknown accidents. Tesla itself stated that the delays were “due to an issue with Tesla’s data collection,” which has since been resolved.
This new investigation comes at a critical time: Tesla recently launched a self-driving cab service in Austin. Elon Musk’s company is planning to offer robotaxi services nationwide soon. The electric car manufacturer also wants to equip millions of vehicles with software updates to enable autonomous driving.
Not the first US investigation into Tesla
Although Tesla’s sales and profits are falling due to boycotts over Musk’s long-term support for US President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe, the company’s share price remains high. Analysts attribute this to investors’ enthusiasm for the company’s ‘Autopilot’ plans.
The current round of tests is not the first: back in October, the NHTSA launched an investigation into possible problems with Tesla’s “Autopilot” system in poor visibility. This affects 2.4 million vehicles and is linked to several accidents, including one fatal one. A US jury recently ruled that Tesla was partly to blame for this fatal crash. The company is to pay damages totaling several hundred million US dollars, but is fighting this decision in court. Since June, the NHTSA has also been analyzing Tesla incidents with potential violations of traffic regulations.
Declining revenue: “Autopilot” should fix it
Since 2021, vehicle manufacturers in the USA have had to report accidents involving partially automated driving systems (SAE level 2). Of the total of over 2600 reported crashes in the United States, Tesla accounts for the most at 2308. However, the NHTSA points out that this is also due to the fact that the company is the largest manufacturer of partially self-driving cars on the US market.
Tesla has so far only offered Robotaxi rides to a select group of passengers in Austin. From September, a new offensive will enable all paying customers to use such shuttles, as Musk announced at X at the beginning of August. Tesla has also started to allow limited robotaxi services with drivers at the wheel in San Francisco in order to comply with Californian regulations. Its biggest competitor is Google’s sister company Waymo, which already completes over one million trips per month with robotaxis. Musk also has his sights set on Europe for such journeys once the authorities have approved the new versions of the ‘Autopilot’ software.
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(ulw)