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At least 11 accidents and one fatality potentially attributed to the technology will be investigated.
The peak US national automotive safety regulator has announced an investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot system, citing a spate of incidents and one fatality since 2018.
While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has previously scrutinised the cause of at least 30 accidents individually, this represents the first overarching federal probe into the autonomous technology.
According to the organisation, at least 765,000 vehicles across the brand’s entire four-model range are equipped with the standard Autopilot system in North America.
It is unclear how many vehicles employ the upgraded ‘Full Self-Driving’ beta system, which largely operates without human input on highways and major roads, however requires an alert driver behind the steering wheel (classified as Level 3 autonomy).
Tesla shares took a dive immediately following the announcement, falling from $US717.17 ($AU981) to $US681.34 ($AU930). This represents a drop of 5.0 per cent.
CEO Elon Musk has consistently defended the system, and earlier this year tweeted: “Tesla with Autopilot engaged now approaching 10 times lower chance of accident than average vehicle.” Those figures were not substantiated.
Drive has reached out to Tesla Australia and the government department Austroads requesting comment on the local implications of the investigation. This story will be updated if further information becomes available.
The post US road safety authorities probe Tesla Autopilot system following accidents appeared first on Drive.
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