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Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA-0.55%) is being investigated by federal regulators after one of its vehicles equipped with driver-assistance technology fatally struck a pedestrian.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday said it had identified four reports where a Tesla equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) had been involved in a crash. One of those crashes involved a fatality, while an additional report included a separate injury.
In each crash, they entered an area with “reduced roadway visibility conditions,” such as fog or airborne dust, the NHTSA said. The reports were filed between February and September.
The preliminary evaluation, which is just the latest hiccup for Tesla’s self-driving efforts, will involve the more than 2.4 million Tesla Model S, 3, X, Y, and Cybertrucks on the road in the U.S. Regulators will asses whether FSD is designed to properly detect and respond to reduced visibility on the road, whether any similar crashes involving FSD exist, and whether any updates to the software have affected the software’s performance.
In April, the NHTSA said it linked Tesla’s Autopilot software to more than 200 crashes and 29 deaths and opened more than 50 special crash investigations into Tesla vehicles thought to be linked to Autopilot. The Wall Street Journal (NWSA+1.59%) reports that more than 1,200 Autopilot-related crashes have been reported to the NHTSA since 2021.
Tesla is facing legal action in both federal and state court over incidents related to its driver assistance technology. One of the latest lawsuits involves Landon Emrby, who died in 2022 after a Model 3 enabled Autopilot and struck the back of his motorcycle In April, the Austin, Texas-based automaker settled with the family of 38-year-old Apple engineer Walter Huang, who crashed into a barrier on a California highway in 2018 while using Autopilot.
Tesla won two previous California trials over Autopilot largely by blaming human errors for the accidents — and one fatality — that occurred. CEO Elon Musk has previously said that Tesla will “never seek victory in a just case against us” and will “never surrender/settle an unjust case against us.”
Tesla has also been accused of false advertising by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles and investigated by the state attorney general’s office over its marketing practices related to its tech. The Department of Justice has opened a separate investigation into Musk and Tesla for their claims about Autopilot.
Musk has repeatedly over-promised and failed to deliver on his claims about Tesla’s rapid advancement in autonomous driving. The NHTSA’s latest inquiry may also hinder Tesla’s efforts to seek regulatory approval and test its prototype “Cybercab,” a self-driving vehicle unveiled last week. Musk last week also suggested that Tesla will start using “fully autonomous unsupervised” FSD in Texas and California in 2025.