The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched 30 investigations, examining ten Tesla electric car fatalities since 2016. It will check whether a semi-automatic system called autopilot was to blame.
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According to Reuters, investigators have so far ruled out the guilt of an autopilot taking over some driving tasks in three of the 30 accidents since 2016.
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NHTSA may order the recall of cars if it considers them to be defective and pose an excessive risk to road users. Tesla has not yet commented on the matter.
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Another U.S. agency, the National Transportation Safety Commission (NTSB), previously said the autopilot had run in at least three Tesla fatalities. According to the NTSB, autopilot, which allows drivers not to keep their hands on the steering wheel for a long time, does not have enough system guarantees.
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The electric vehicle manufacturer introduced the autopilot in 2015. After a fatal accident with the autopilot switched on, he asked the driver not to let go of the steering wheel even when using it, and they were always ready to take control of the car. The carmaker claims that driving with an autopilot is safer than without it.
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The case again attracted attention in the United States after April 17, when two men died in the accident in Texas. Police believe that none of them were behind the wheel at the time.
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Maria Cantwell, chairwoman of the Senate Trade Committee, argued during Tesla’s car accidents during Wednesday’s negative vote on regulations that were to speed up the adoption of self-driving cars. “Every other week, we seem to hear about another vehicle crashing while autopilot,” Cantwell told Reuters.
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