All Tesla Autopilot-equipped vehicles are subject to recall, bringing the number of recalled vehicles to over 2 million



On December 12, 2023 local time, the US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla 's vehicles equipped with the autopilot function were subject to a recall. NHTSA has pointed out safety concerns about Autopilot, and Tesla has acknowledged this. It is estimated that more than 2 million vehicles are subject to the recall.

Part 573 Safety Recall Report
(PDF file) https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V838-8276.PDF



Tesla recalls every car with Autopilot as feds say it's too easily misused | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/12/more-than-2-million-teslas-are-being-recalled-due-to-unsafe-autopilot/



Tesla recalls nearly all vehicles sold in US to update software | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopilot-recall-driver-monitoring-system-8060508627a34e6af889feca46eb3002

Tesla's Autopilot is a feature that assists the vehicle's speed and steering operation depending on surrounding traffic conditions. NHTSA began investigating Tesla vehicles in August 2021 due to a series of accidents such as vehicles colliding with 'emergency vehicles parked on the roadway' while driving using the autopilot function. I was there.

US government agency begins formal investigation of Tesla's ``autopilot function'' after a series of accidents colliding with parked emergency vehicles - GIGAZINE



NHTSA releases data on the safety or shortcomings of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which shows that 367 crashes involving vehicles equipped with ADAS were reported from July 2021 to May 15, 2022. It has been revealed that approximately three-quarters (273) of the cases were caused by Tesla cars.

Number 1 in traffic accidents involving self-driving cars is Tesla, 2nd place is Honda, and 3rd place is Subaru - GIGAZINE



The subject of this recall is the autosteering component of the autopilot function. Tesla once claimed that Autosteering reduced collisions by 40%, but a third-party analysis of this statistical data revealed that this was completely false. . After that, the NHTSA's Defect Investigation Bureau continued to investigate Autosteer, and as a result , it became clear that there was a ``lack of caution'' on the part of Autosteer users. The Defect Investigation Bureau has pointed out that Tesla's Autopilot ``leads to predictable abuse,'' and Tesla acknowledged this and issued a recall.

In addition, research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has also revealed that using Tesla's autopilot function increases the amount of distracted driving by drivers.

How much will distracted driving increase when Tesla's 'Autopilot' is turned on? -GIGAZINE



A particularly big problem with Autopilot is the mixed messages from automakers. Tesla's website states, ``Currently, the Autopilot feature requires active driver supervision and is not intended to drive the vehicle autonomously.'' However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in the media. In interviews, he repeatedly said things like ``The autopilot function is automatic driving.'' There is also a video posted on Tesla's website that claims that the Autopilot feature can drive the car autonomously. It has also been pointed out that Mr. Musk uses the autopilot function to automatically drive his vehicle without supervision.

Since Tesla announced the Autopilot function, General Motors has released similar functions such as ``Super Cruise,'' Ford has released ``Bluecruise,'' and BMW has released ``Driving Assistance Professional,'' and automakers have also entered the autonomous driving system market. Masu. However, the autonomous driving systems of these manufacturers have a more tightly controlled operational design area, with access restrictions imposed such that they can only be used on expressways, and whether the vehicle is in the permitted access area or not. It seems that the system uses GPS to determine whether the driver is paying attention to the road ahead or not by tracking the driver's line of sight using a camera.

In contrast, Tesla only recognized whether the driver was holding the steering wheel by installing a torque sensor on the steering column. Therefore, it is possible to easily fool the system by simply hanging a weight on the steering wheel. Tesla also claims that it uses a wide-angle camera built into the rearview mirror to know if the driver is in the driver's seat, but this can easily be fooled with a giant teddy bear. It has become clear.




It is believed that the lack of safety in the autopilot function can be fixed with a software update. Still, it is important to warn users through recalls, and whether or not it can be fixed with a software update is not important for NHTSA's recall process.

In addition, NHTSA will continue to investigate whether Tesla's proposed amendment will actually solve the problem. However, this also includes things like 'getting the user to pay attention to the roadway without taking their hands off the steering wheel.'

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in Software,   Vehicle,   Video, Posted by logu_ii