Tesla must provide NHTSA with Autopilot recall data by July or face up to $135 million in fines

The
National
Highway
Traffic
Safety
Administration
is

pressing
Tesla
for
answers
about
changes
the
company
made
to
its
Autopilot
driver
assistance
system
following
a
voluntary
software
recall
in
December
that
affected
about
2
million
vehicles
in
the
U.S.

Tesla
must
meet
a
deadline
of
July
1
to
provide
information
to
the
regulator
or
face
fines
up
to
$135.8
million,
according
to
a
letter

sent
by
the
NHTSA
to
company
on
May
6.

The
recall
was
intended
to
improve
Tesla’s
driver-engagement
systems,
which
are
used
to
monitor
whether
drivers
are
safely
using
features
like
traffic
aware
cruise
control,
lane
keeping
and
auto
steering
—
part
of
Autopilot.
Since
the
recall,
at
least
20
Tesla
vehicles
have
been
involved
in
crashes
in
which
the
system
was
thought
to
be
in
use,
according
to

a
filing
on
the
NHTSA’s
website.

The “recall
remedy”
probe
follows
a
three-year
investigation
by
the
agency
that
found
safety
issues
with
Tesla
Autopilot
contributed
to
at
least
467
collisions
and
14
deaths
from
January
2018
through
August
2023.

The
NHTSA

had
concluded
that
drivers
involved
in
those
crashes “were
not
sufficiently
engaged
in
the
driving
task
and
that
the
warnings
provided
by
Autopilot
when
Autosteer
was
engaged
did
not
adequately
ensure
that
drivers
maintained
their
attention
on
the
driving
task.”

Driver-engagement
systems,
sometimes
known
as
driver-monitoring
systems,
in
Tesla
vehicles
include
torque
sensors
in
the
steering
wheel
to
detect
whether
drivers
are
keeping
their
hands
on
the
wheel,
and
in-cabin
cameras
that
monitor
a
driver’s
gaze.
They
should
alert
any
inattentive
driver
to
pay
attention
and
stay
ready
to
steer
or
brake
at
any
time.

The
NHTSA
is
seeking
detailed
crash
data
from
the
electric
vehicle
maker
since
the
agency
issued
the
recall
update
on
Autopilot,
including
data
and
video
stored
in
or
streamed
from
its
cars
and
retained
by
the
company.

They’re
also
asking
for
records
about
Tesla’s
engineering
teams
and
their
approach
to “safety
defect
determination
decision
making,” “issue
investigation,” “action
design
including
human
factors
considerations
(initial
and
modifications),”
and “testing.”

Tesla
is
in
the
middle
of
a
massive
reorganization
and

sweeping
layoffs.
The
company
hasn’t
disclosed
how
many
jobs
in
its
Autopilot
and
vehicle-safety
engineering
teams
may
have
been
cut.

For
about
a
decade,
CEO

Elon
Musk
has
been
promising
that
Tesla
is
on
the
cusp
of
a
self-driving
breakthrough.
With
sales
of
Tesla
EVs
dropping
in
the

first
quarter,
Musk
has
been
focusing
investors’
attention
on

his
dream
of
a
future
full
of
Tesla
artificial
intelligence
products,
including
robotaxis
and “sentient”
humanoid
robots
that
can
do
factory
work.

Tesla
shares
fell
3.8%
on
Tuesday
to
$177.81
and
are
down
28%
year
to
date.