Meghana KandraUS auto safety regulators have opened 30 investigations on Tesla car crashes since 2015. Among them, there were 10 deaths, where the older case results are stated as “undetermined” about whether autopilot was in use. However, the investigations haven’t worked on the recent updates of Tesla Model 3 and Model Y updates.
Image credits- Time Magazine
As the new updates have come, the Tesla Model 3 And Y have four advanced safety features as they shift to pure vision automation. NHTSA is yet to conduct some safety tests and decide on its safety matters.
The crashes
These have been going on for a long now, but the data was never revealed fully by NHTSA. Only recently the data was shared with Reuters. Ever since the Tesla crash in Texas on 17 April caught attention on Tesla car crashes. It was said that there was no one in the driver’s seat, and the safety of FSD Beta (Tesla’s automation system) raised some concerns. But the safety board concluded that the automation steering system was not used during the crash.
Out of the 30 Tesla crashes, NHTSA concluded that 3 of them were not on autopilot mode. However, the older classes till 2019 weren’t determined. Furthermore, they claimed that at least three crashes had autopilot mode in use.
Autopilot is not fully developed by any system in cars. It allows the drivers to keep their hands off the wheel. But the driver is always seated and Tesla always has assured that their cars are the safest. Usually, the system doesn’t allow the drivers to sleep or look elsewhere while driving. If anything happens, the car hits the brakes, and accidents are avoided. However, if the user goes beyond the speed limit or uses some kind of trick, the result is not clear. And the Pure vision update also has increased worries among users.
Slowing down self-driving cars
Since March, eight new cases have been opened for investigation. Despite the assurance of safety, the safety board votes against speeding up the self-driving line-up.
Maria Cantwell, Senate Commerce Committee Chair said, “It seems like every other week we’re hearing about a new vehicle that crashed when it was on Autopilot”
After the recent update with Tesla Pure Vision, the NHTSA hasn’t tested its safety level. Stated, “not yet finalized the list of Model Year 2022 vehicles for testing.”
Also, the NHTSA is investigating six other cases involved with Cadillac vehicles. They possibly have driver assistance systems on during the accidents. It also includes two 2017 Volvo XC90 vehicles and one Uber self-driving test. The Uber Self-driving test was the one where a woman was killed as the car was stuck in Arizona in 2018. And the Volvo XC90 vehicle accident was concluded that the automation was not used.