On Friday local time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released an investigation report on Tesla's Autopilot system.
Federal authorities have pointed out that there is a "critical safety gap" in the system, resulting in at least 467 collisions, including 13 fatal accidents and many cases of serious injuries.
(Source: NHTSA) An accident that could have been avoided
This report summarizes a three-year investigation. After analyzing 956 accidents, NHTSA concluded that Tesla's design of the Autopilot system resulted in "foreseeable misuse and avoidable collisions." NHTSA specifically emphasized that the system "did not adequately ensure driver attention and appropriate use.".
NHTSA also summarized this as a "critical safety gap" between the driver's expectations of the Tesla Autopilot system's capabilities and the system's true capabilities, leading to a series of avoidable accidents.
Tesla's Autopilot is L2 level autonomous driving, which refers to the ability of the system to perform vehicle acceleration, braking, and steering in specific situations such as highways. However, this level of system requires the driver to "always monitor the traffic environment" and be ready to take control at any time. Due to the inclusion of the word "Auto" in the product name, many Tesla drivers believe that this car can be driven "automatically".
Among the 956 accidents investigated, NHTSA identified this "critical safety gap" as causing 467 accidents. In 211 accidents, Tesla vehicles collided head-on with other vehicles or obstacles while having sufficient reaction time. This means that if the driver can always maintain attention, accidents can be completely avoided or greatly reduced. In addition, there were 256 accidents related to drivers mistakenly operating the Autosteer system, or the system being mistakenly activated in low friction environments such as rainy days.
In response to the issues exposed by Autopilot, Tesla conducted a recall in December last year that covered 2 million Tesla cars in the United States, and improved the driver monitoring systems of these vehicles through software upgrades. NHTSA also stated that it will conduct a new investigation into the effectiveness of this software upgrade.
However, in Friday's report, NHTSA also mentioned that due to ongoing media reports of accidents related to Autopilot, Tesla's software upgrade may not be complete enough.
For example, on April 19th this year, in an accident in Washington State, a Tesla car hit and killed a motorcycle rider. The driver told the police that he was using the Autopilot system at the time of the incident.
The fate of the company hangs in the hands of autonomous driving
During this week's conference call, Tesla CEO Musk emphasized that if someone does not believe Tesla can solve the problem of autonomous driving, then they should not be a shareholder of the company. Musk emphasized that the company will achieve this and is continuously striving. The company also previously disclosed that it will release autonomous taxis on August 8th.
After Musk emphasized that Tesla was an "AI robotics company," the company's market value increased by $75 billion in the following three days.
After Friday's report was released, there were also calls for restrictions on the scope of Autopilot application in the US market.
Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey and Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal issued statements stating that Tesla Autopilot should be restricted to use only on roads suitable for its design.
Philip Koopman, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, explains that people have lost their lives due to blind trust in Autopilot, and even simple measures can improve security. Koopman gave an example that Tesla can automatically limit the usage range of Autopilot based on map data in the vehicle. At the same time, it can also improve the monitoring system to avoid drivers often focusing on their phones when using Autopilot.