🔗 Share this article

American vehicle safety authorities have commenced an investigation into Tesla vehicles equipped with the full self-driving technology due to safety regulation breaches following numerous collisions.

Regulatory Body Identifies Traffic Law Violations

The NHTSA announced that the electric carmaker's self-driving assistance system, which requires drivers to remain attentive and intervene if needed, had “induced vehicle behaviour that breached traffic safety laws”.

This initial assessment by the NHTSA represents the first step before possibly requesting a withdrawal of the vehicles if the authority concludes they present a danger to road safety.

Alarming Incident Reports

The regulatory body stated it had documented reports of nearly 3 million Tesla cars running red lights and traveling in the wrong direction during lane switching while operating the technology.

NHTSA stated it has six documented cases in which a Tesla vehicle, using full self-driving activated, “came to an junction with a red light, proceeded to drive into the crossroads despite the red signal and was later involved in a collision with other cars in the intersection”.

The authority noted that four crashes had resulted in one or more injuries.

Further Safety Concerns

The NHTSA announced it has found 18 complaints and one news account claiming that Tesla cars, operating at an intersection with FSD active, did not stay stationary for the entire time of a red traffic signal, did not come to complete stop, or did not properly recognize and display the correct traffic signal state in the vehicle interface”.

Some complainants also claimed that FSD “did not provide warnings of the technology's intended actions as the car was coming to a red light”.

Ongoing Official Examination

The full self-driving system, which is more advanced than its basic autopilot feature, has been under investigation by NHTSA for a year.

In late 2024, the agency began an inquiry into 2.4 million Tesla cars using FSD after four documented crashes in situations of reduced visibility, such as bright sunlight, fog or dust clouds. One of these collisions, in 2023, was fatal.

Manufacturer's Official Stance

The company's official position indicates that FSD is “intended for use with a completely alert driver, who has their hands on the steering wheel and is prepared to take over at any time. While these features are engineered to improve over time, the currently enabled functions do not render the vehicle self-driving.”

Self-driving vehicle technology continue to face growing examination from regulatory bodies as the systems develop and real-world testing reveals possible issues with current implementations.