Tesla said it would recall 362,000 US vehicles to update its full autonomous driving (FSD) Beta software after regulators said Thursday the driver assistance system did not adequately comply with road safety laws and could cause accidents. .
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Tesla’s software allows a vehicle to “exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner, thereby increasing the risk of a crash.
Tesla will release a free over-the-air (OTA) software update, and the EV maker said it is not aware of any injuries or deaths that could be related to the recall issue. The automaker said it had 18 warranty claims.
Tesla shares fell 1.6% to $210.76 on Thursday afternoon.
The recall covers 2017-2023 Model S, Model X, Model 3 and 2016-2023 Model Y 2020-2023 vehicles equipped with FSD Beta software or pending installation.
NHTSA asked Tesla to recall the vehicles, but the company said that despite the recall, it disagreed with NHTSA’s analysis. The move is a rare intervention by federal regulators in a real-world testing program the company believes is crucial to the development of self-driving cars. FSD Beta is used by hundreds of thousands of Tesla customers.
The setback for Tesla’s automated driving effort comes about two weeks before the company’s investor day on March 1, during which its chief executive, Elon Musk, is expected to promote the automaker’s artificial intelligence capability. electric vehicles and plans to expand its line of vehicles.
Tesla could not immediately be reached for comment.
NHTSA has an ongoing investigation that opened in 2021 into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with Autopilot driver assistance systems for a series of accidents involving parked emergency vehicles. NHTSA is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure that drivers are paying attention. NHTSA said Thursday that despite the FSD’s withdrawal, its “investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot and associated vehicle systems remains open and active.”
Tesla said that in “certain exceptional circumstances… the feature could potentially violate traffic laws or local customs when executing certain driving maneuvers.”
Possible situations where the issue could occur include traveling or turning through certain intersections during a yellow light and making a lane change outside of certain turn lanes to continue traveling in a straight line, the NHTSA said.
NHTSA said that “the system may insufficiently respond to changes in posted speed limits or fail to adequately account for driver adjustment of vehicle speed to exceed posted speed limits.”
Last year, Tesla recalled nearly 54,000 US vehicles with FSD Beta software that may allow some models to make “rolling stops” and not come to a complete stop at some intersections, posing a safety risk, the NHTSA said. .
Tesla and NHTSA say FSD’s advanced driving features don’t make cars autonomous and require drivers to pay attention.
