Investigation reveals no flaws in Tesla’s Autopilot

An American investigation into the operation of Tesla’s Autopilot has not revealed any flaws. The investigative body even concludes that the number of accidents involving Teslas has fallen since Autopilot. The investigation followed a fatal accident involving a Tesla Model S.

The investigation was conducted by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration and covered the Automatic Emergency Braking system in addition to the operation of the semi-autonomous driving system. No defects were found in either system during the evaluation.

The Nhtsa analyzed, among other things, the amount of kilometers driven with Autopilot’s Autosteer function and the times that airbags were deployed on Model S and X vehicles. The organization concluded from this that the number of accidents decreased by 40 percent since the Autosteer installation.

The conclusion follows Tesla’s own, right after the fatal accident in May 2016. In that Florida accident, a truck with a Tesla S trailer crossed the road, unnoticed by Autopilot or the driver. According to Tesla, the white truck was not detected against the white sky behind it. The automaker also emphasized that the driver is still responsible and must keep their focus on driving, despite Autopilot activation.

According to the Nhtsa, the driver took no action such as braking or adjusting prior to the accident, while the trailer must have been visible to him for at least seven seconds. In September 2016, Tesla released a software update to allow Autopilot to warn drivers earlier that they do not have their hands on the wheel.

In addition to Autosteer, Autopilot offers more functions such as Auto Lane Change, Autopark and Automatic Emergency Steering and Side Collision Warning. While the functionality can take over several responsibilities from drivers, it cannot take over all tasks.