San Francisco, Aug 19 : Elon Musk’s Tesla is under intense scrutiny over the controversial Autopilot advanced driver assistance system, which has claimed to have killed several, with both federal and state regulators increasing the heat on the electric car manufacturer.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has upgraded its investigation from a preliminary assessment to an analysis of engineering soliciting Tesla to provide answers regarding the cabin camera in the course of an investigation into 830,000 Tesla vehicles, which include Autopilot.
“Describe the role that the cabin camera plays in the enforcement of driver engagement/attentiveness and the manner in which its inputs are factored into the subject system’s operation,” the US regulator said in a letter to Tesla late on Thursday.
The letter requested Tesla to provide input regarding the impact of the technology on types of driver engagement alerts and timing , and how it will integrate with the current engagement strategy and recoverable data elements that point to its impact either through telemetry or the onboard storage in the vehicle and the impact on driver alerting and data that can be recovered if the driver chooses not to share the camera’s data with Tesla.
According to Tesla the cabin camera is able to detect drivers’ inattention and alert them with audible warnings, to remind them to keep their eye on the road when Autopilot is in use.
Tesla introduced its driver monitoring system using cameras in May of last year.
The NHTSA is investigating at the very least sixteen crashes in which Tesla owners could have engaged Autopilot which then drove into emergency vehicles stationary which resulted in 15 injuries and one fatality.
“Describe in detail the engineering and safety explanation and evidence for design decisions regarding enforcement of driver engagement/attentiveness during the subject system’s operation in the subject vehicles,” said the US transportation agency.
In the last month it was reported that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California accused Musk-run Tesla of making false claims regarding its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.
The agency claimed in its report it believes that Tesla “wrongly assumes” that cars that are equipped with the technology are able to operate on their own.
Tesla has responded by asking the California DMV to hold an appearance to defend against accusations that it deceived potential customers, according to TechCrunch.
The California DMV filed two separate complaints with the DMV, alleging Tesla has made “untrue or false” claims regarding its vehicles’ autonomous driving capabilities.
Former US presidential candidate Ralph Nader has called Tesla’s FSD technology as one of the “most reckless and dangerous actions” of a car maker in the last few decades.
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