- Title: U.S. opens formal safety probe into some 765,000 Tesla vehicles
- Date: 16th August 2021
- Summary: LUSAKA, ZAMBIA (AUGUST 16, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ZAMBIA'S OPPOSITION LEADER HAKAINDE HICHILEMA SUPPORTERS SCREAMING AND SHOUTING/CARS HOOTING MORE OF SUPPPORTERS SHOUTING: "Bally" MORE OF SUPPORTERS SINGING AND WAVING A BANNER WITH HICHILEMA'S FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED HICHILEMA SUPPORTER, SAYING: "As you can see there's a high turnout of people. People
- Embargoed: 30th August 2021 14:59
- Keywords: NHTSA Tesla Tesla crashes autopilot driver assistance systems
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQJ6M2V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. auto safety regulators said Monday (August 16) they had opened a formal safety probe into Tesla Inc's driver assistance system Autopilot after a series of crashes involving emergency vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that since January 2018, it had identified 11 crashes in which Tesla models "have encountered first responder scenes and subsequently struck one or more vehicles involved with those scenes."
It said it had reports of 17 injuries and one death in those crashes.
The NHTSA said the 11 crashes included four this year, most recently one last month in San Diego, and it had opened a preliminary evaluation of Autopilot in 2014-2021 Tesla Models Y, X, S, and 3.
"The involved subject vehicles were all confirmed to have been engaged in either Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control during the approach to the crashes," the NHTSA said in a document opening the investigation.
The probe covers an estimated 765,000 Tesla vehicles in the United States, the NHTSA said in opening the investigation.
The NHTSA has in recent years sent numerous special crash investigation teams to review a series of Tesla crashes.
It said most incidents took place after dark and the crash scenes encountered included measures like emergency vehicle lights, flares or road cones.
The NHTSA said its investigation "will assess the technologies and methods used to monitor, assist, and enforce the driver's engagement with the dynamic driving task during Autopilot operation."
Because the NHTSA could demand a recall, it must first decide to upgrade a preliminary investigation into an engineering analysis.
Autopilot, which handles some driving tasks and allows drivers to keep their hands off the wheel for extended periods, was operating in at least three Tesla vehicles involved in fatal U.S. crashes since 2016, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has said.
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