Feds seek Autopilot data from Tesla in crash probe

Neither the driver nor the passenger, who have not been identified, were injured. But then Tesla said it was accelerating its production schedule.

The accident is the third serious crash apparently tied to the self-driving feature. Concerns raised by the first reported fatality in a semi-autonomous auto are expected to speed adoption of more sensitive and safe autonomous vehicle systems, investors and analysts said.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors says it hasn’t been informed of a government investigation into its disclosure of a fatal crash. Neither the driver nor his passenger were injured in the accident, but it was serious enough that the vehicle lost its front passenger side wheel. Pang told Shope he was driving between 55 and 60 miles per hour on a road with a 55 miles per hour speed limit.

But worries have mounted that the feature has some faults, including not being able to recognize cars halted on the road, and that drivers are being lulled into a false sense of safety and not watching the road. Drivers have to actively engage Autopilot, and the vehicles warn motorists to keep their hands on the wheel.

Toyota Motor Corp, which is investing more than US$1 billion in such self-driving technologies as robotics and artificial intelligence, said it aims to put fully driverless cars on the road in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“When Tesla told NHTSA about the accident on May 16th, we had barely started our investigation”, the company said in July 6 blog post. Such statements show that Tesla is not willing to assume responsibility when Autopilot fails, according to the watchdog group.

Pang received a traffic citation for careless driving following the accident. Tesla said that the Autopilot should be used as a backup and not as a replacement for the driver.

The agency is investigating the May 7 crash in Williston, Florida, that killed 40-year-old Joshua Brown, of Canton, Ohio.

Pennsylvania State Police cited the driver of a Tesla Model X sport utility vehicle involved in a July 1 crash that may have involved Autopilot technology for careless driving, according to a report released Monday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking the California-based electric carmaker for details on its emergency-braking and Autopilot systems. The information request is a routine step in an investigation, spokesman Bryan Thomas said.

Roger Lanctot, associate director of Strategy Analytics’ global automotive practice, told EE Times, “My guess is that the software-focused aspect of the crash is what has taken it beyond the realm of NHTSA’s investigations”.

Musk, the top shareholder for both companies, has said he’ll abstain from voting on any deal. “There’s an opportunity to learn from the information about how automation is introduced into American highways”. Most of those will be the Model 3, Tesla’s entry-level luxury sedan that is supposed to begin deliveries in late 2017. The autopilot technology is still evolving and is far away from perfection.