Once again, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is requesting more information from Tesla regarding Autopilot safety.
In a July 26 special order, the regulator expressed concerns about a change to Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system that allows drivers to use the system for extended periods of time without requiring the driver to put their hands on the steering wheel.
NHTSA has ordered Tesla to answer questions and provide documents, according to the letter released on Tuesday.
The special order is part of NHTSA’s ongoing investigation into Autopilot after identifying more than a dozen incidents in which Tesla cars collided with parked emergency vehicles. The agency is also actively looking into whether Teslas can ensure that drivers pay attention when using Autopilot.
This isn’t the first time NHTSA has requested information about Tesla’s Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS), which are intended to ensure drivers pay attention to the road while Autopilot systems are operating. And in August 2022, the agency asked Tesla to answer questions about its cabin camera as part of an ongoing investigation into 830,000 Tesla vehicles that include Autopilot. Tesla says the camera is designed with a DMS system that can identify if a driver is not paying attention and send them noise alerts.
Tesla previously relied on a system that could detect when a driver’s hands were on the steering wheel, but it introduced the camera-based DMS system in May 2021.
NHTSA requested more information about the DMS in July, as well as information about how Tesla generates its quarterly safety reports.
“The resulting relaxation of controls designed to ensure the driver remains engaged in the dynamic driving task can result in increased driver inattention and failure of the driver to properly supervise Autopilot,” the July NHTSA letter to Tesla stated.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared plans on X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk bought in 2022 — to gradually reduce alerts aimed at ensuring that drivers using Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) system keep their hands on… Steering wheel .
Tesla has been ordered to provide information about when the software update will be introduced, how many vehicles are affected, why it was installed, and any plans to enable the software in the next year. NHTSA gave Tesla a deadline of August 25, and late responses can cost $26,315 per day. NHTSA did not respond in time to TechCrunch confirming that Tesla has met the deadline.
The order from NHTSA comes as Tesla faces back-to-back lawsuits this fall. The first, scheduled for September in a California state court, contains allegations that Autopilot caused a vehicle to suddenly veer off a highway at 65mph, crash into a tree and catch fire, killing the vehicle’s owner.
The second event is set in October, and involves the death of a Miami driver who drove his Model 3 under a truck trailer that stopped on the road, severing the top of the vehicle’s roof and killing the driver. The lawsuit alleges that the autopilot failed to brake, steer or act in any way to avoid collision.