🔗 Share this article

American vehicle safety authorities have opened an investigation into Tesla vehicles equipped with the full self-driving technology due to safety regulation breaches following several accidents.

Regulatory Body Finds Traffic Law Violations

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that the electric carmaker's autonomous driving feature, which requires drivers to remain attentive and intervene if needed, had caused car behavior that violated road safety regulations”.

This early investigation by the NHTSA represents the initial phase before possibly requesting a withdrawal of the cars if the agency concludes they pose a risk to public safety.

Alarming Case Findings

The agency reported it had received reports of 2.88 million Tesla vehicles running red traffic lights and moving in the wrong way during lane changes while using the technology.

NHTSA stated it has six reports in which a Tesla car, using FSD activated, “came to an intersection with a red light, proceeded to travel into the crossroads against the red signal and was later part of a crash with other cars in the junction”.

The agency noted that four crashes had resulted in injuries to occupants.

Further Safety Concerns

The NHTSA announced it has found 18 reports and one news account claiming that Tesla cars, driving through an intersection with FSD active, did not stay stationary for the entire time of a red traffic signal, failed to stop fully, or did not properly recognize and show the correct traffic signal state in the vehicle interface”.

Several reporters also stated that FSD “failed to give alerts of the technology's intended behaviour as the vehicle was approaching a red light”.

Ongoing Official Examination

The full self-driving system, which is more sophisticated than its Autopilot system, has been under investigation by NHTSA for a year.

In October 2024, the agency began an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla cars using FSD after four documented crashes in conditions of poor visibility, such as sun glare, fog or airborne dust. One of these collisions, in last year, was deadly.

Company's Stated Position

Tesla's website states that FSD is “designed for operation by a completely alert driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to assume control at any time. While these capabilities are engineered to improve over time, the presently active functions do not make the vehicle autonomous.”

Automated vehicle technology continue to face increased scrutiny from regulatory bodies as the technology advances and practical implementation reveals possible issues with current implementations.