Tesla autopilot system safety measures found to be inadequate as federal investigation concludes

After nearly three years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has closed its investigation into crashes involving Tesla’s autopilot driver assistance system by concluding that the EV maker’s safety measures are inadequate. 

In documents released Friday, NHTSA’s Office of Defects faulted Tesla’s driver engagement systems, ending a probe that began in 2021. And the agency also said it will open a new investigation into the impact of Tesla’s recall to fix the original problems.

The office cited a “critical safety gap between drivers’ expectations of (Autopilot’s) operating capabilities and the system’s true capabilities. This gap led to foreseeable misuse and avoidable crashes.” 

The agency’s investigation reviewed 956 crashes from 2021-2023. Around half of the reviewed crashes did not have enough data to make an accurate assessment, involved another vehicle at fault or cases that did not involve autopilot. 

However, many of the crashes involved Tesla’s self-driving program. According to the data reviewed by the agency, 211 crashes involved Tesla’s front plane striking a vehicle or obstacle “with adequate time for an attentive driver to respond to avoid or mitigate the crash.”  

An additional 145 crashes involved slick roadways or low-traction environments, and 111 of the reviewed crashes were incidents where the driver’s inputs inadvertently disengaged Autosteer.

Tesla’s autopilot program requires drivers to be attentive while the software is engaged and has sensors and cameras that can detect when a driver is not engaging with the system properly. In response to criticism that the safety features did not go far enough, Tesla issued a massive software recall on the autopilot technology in December. 

However, as the NHTSA pointed out in its investigation, drivers can readily opt out of many of the safeguards put in place by the recall. On Friday, the NHTSA announced it also will pursue another investigation into the effects of Tesla’s recall. 

While the conclusion of NHTSA’s investigation marks the end of the largest federal investigation into self-driving technologies, other departments are still in the middle of their investigations. Both the Justice Department and the California Department of Motor Vehicles are currently investigating Tesla for claims made about its full self-driving and autopilot programs.