The National Transportation Safety Board started to investigate the crash in order to determine whether it discloses systemic issues attached to the development of autonomous cars and investigate the accidents that involved them, according to WSJ.
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Tesla Motors is facing increased scrutiny involving the fatal accident involving its Model S vehicle in Autopilot mode, as the Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly investigates the case. The company’s cars keep detailed logs of their driving and that information is transmitted back to Tesla servers.
USA safety regulators have asked electric auto maker Tesla for detailed information about the design, operation and testing of its Autopilot technology. Some answers are due by July 29 and others by August 26, NHTSA said.
Lawyers for the family of Brown said they are investigating the circumstances of the crash, and awaiting conclusions from police and federal agencies.
The company, in fact, is planning an explanatory blog post to educate customers on how the feature works, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Tesla shares were down 1.8 percent in morning trading at $220.58.
“No safety-significant system should ever use consumers as test drivers on the highways”, said Clarence Ditlow, head of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Safety. What we told NHTSA [on May 16] was just that somebody died – it wasn’t that there was an autopilot incident.
When switched on by the driver, Autopilot takes control of the accelerator, brakes and steering to autonomously drive the vehicle on motorways and in slow-moving traffic. The SEC declined to comment Monday. It is in the process of developing standards for self-driving cars.
That follows the first fatal crash in May involving a vehicle using Autopilot, which takes control of steering and braking in certain conditions.
“The data suggests that the driver’s hands were not on the steering wheel, as no force was detected on the steering wheel for over 2 minutes after autosteer was engaged”, the company said in the statement. Pang said that he is not sure whether the crash occurred due to his fault or his car’s fault, and also added that, despite the crash, he would still purchase another Tesla vehicle. Tesla said it was not until May 18 that a Tesla investigator was able to go to Florida to inspect the vehicle.
She continued: “As road conditions became increasingly uncertain, the vehicle again alerted the driver to put his hands on the wheel”.
At the same time, Tesla is struggling to meet its targets for building and delivering its Model S sedans and Model X sport utilities.
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It’s up to you whether you trust driverless cars, Tesla isn’t forcing drivers to use it.
