Keep your hands on that Tesla Model 3 wheel! Electric car brand cops more heat from NHTSA over 'Autopilot' functionality

The US Department of Transportation’s ongoing evaluation of Tesla’s Level 2 ‘Autopilot’ self-driving function has taken another turn with the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) publishing a letter it recently sent to the EV maker expressing concern about a system reconfiguration allowing “drivers using Autopilot to operate their vehicles for extended periods without Autopilot prompting the driver to apply torque to the steering wheel”.

The NHTSA began assessing the Autopilot system in mid-2021, and over the subsequent two years has raised numerous questions about the technology this time around saying it is “concerned that this feature was introduced to consumer 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 remains engaged in the dynamic driving task could lead to greater driver inattention and failure of the driver to properly supervise Autopilot,” it said. 

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The NHTSA letter is dated July 26, 2023 and incorporates a ‘Special Order’ asking for a response to 10 questions ranging across everything from when the new functionality was introduced and how it operates, to the motivation behind installing it and “copies of incident or crash reports from collisions or near-misses involving 12 vehicles with the subject software update enabled”.

It adds failure to “completely respond to the Requests in the Special Order, may be subject to civil penalties of up to $26,315 per day”.

When contacted by CarsGuide, Tesla Australia said it had no comment to make in response to the NHTSA’s demands.