Aug. 30 (UPI) — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered Tesla to respond to inquiries about the safety of a hands-free autopilot mode that could theoretically lead to driver distraction.
A July 26 memo published on the agency’s website Tuesday showed the electric vehicle maker has been under scrutiny from the safety watchdog about potential dangers posed by the hands-free system.
“NHTSA is concerned that this feature was introduced to customer vehicles and, now that the existence of this feature is known to the public, more drivers may attempt to activate it. The resulting relaxation of controls designed to ensure that the driver remain engaged in the dynamic driving task could lead to greater driver inattention and failure to supervise the autopilot,” the NHTSA wrote in a letter to Tesla’s Senior Legal Director Dinna Eskin.
Prior versions of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software had a feature colloquially referred to as a “nag” that sets off a warning alarm when the driver takes their hands off the wheel.
The Full Self-Driving system without the “nag” is referred to as “Elon mode,” named after Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla has already passed the deadline that could incur large fines if they do not respond to the NHTSA’s requests for information on how many drivers and vehicles are using “Elon mode.”
The NHTSA posted the letter to their website Tuesday but it wasn’t immediately clear if this was an indication that Tesla has responded appropriately to the letter.
“You must respond in full to the requests in the enclosed Special Order by August 25, 2023. If you do not timely, accurately, or completely respond to the Requests in the Special Order, you may be subject to civil penalties o cup to $26,315 per day,” the NHTSA said.
