US investigators have cleared a 2015 Tesla Model S which collided with a tractor trailer crossing an uncontrolled intersection in Florida, resulting in the death of the driver. The decision resulted on Consumer Watchdog accusing regulators of falling for Tesla "propaganda".
The NHTSA said data obtained from the car indicated the Tesla was being operated in Autopilot mode at the time of the collision; the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system did not provide any warning or automated braking for the collision event; and the driver took no braking, steering or other actions to avoid the collision.
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"NHTSA's examination did not identify any defects in the design or performance of the AEB or Autopilot systems of the subject vehicles nor any incidents in which the systems did not perform as designed. AEB systems used in the automotive industry through MY 2016 are rear-end collision avoidance technologies that are not designed to reliably perform in all crash modes, including crossing path collisions.
"The Autopilot system is an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) that requires the continual and full attention of the driver to monitor the traffic environment and be prepared to take action to avoid crashes. Tesla's design included a hands-on the steering wheel system for monitoring driver engagement. That system has been updated to further reinforce the need for driver engagement through a "strike out" strategy. Drivers that do not respond to visual cues in the driver monitoring system alerts may "strike out" and lose Autopilot function for the remainder of the drive cycle.
" A safety-related defect trend has not been identified at this time and further examination of this issue does not appear to be warranted. Accordingly, this investigation is closed."
"The safety of our customers comes first, and we appreciate the thoroughness of NHTSA's report and its conclusion," Tesla said on its website.
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By GlobalDataConsumer Watchdog (CW) dismissed the finding as "a last minute action by the outgoing administration", adding NHTSA "wrongly" blamed "the driver instead of the car's Autopilot technology.
"NHTSA has wrongly accepted Tesla's line and blamed the human, rather than the Autopilot technology and Tesla's aggressive marketing," said CW privacy project director John Simpson. "The very name Autopilot creates the impression that a Tesla can drive itself. It can't. Some people who apparently believed Tesla's hype got killed. Tesla CEO Elon Musk should have been held accountable."
CW claimed closing the investigation came "as part of a series of "midnight actions" by the outgoing Obama administration's transportation officials favouring the self-driving car industry."On Monday, Martin Luther King Day, the Department of Transportation's Advisory Committee on Automation in Transportation, co-chaired by GM CEO Marry Barra, met for the first time.
CW claimed NHTSA had denied a petition filed in January seeking a rulemaking requiring automatic emergency braking on all new cars.
"The is no reason for this unseemly haste, unless DOT secretary Anthony Foxx and NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind are positioning themselves to go through the perpetual revolving door and land a job in the industry they were supposed to be regulating." said Simpson. "We have called on them to pledge not to do so, but they have not."
CW claimed the problem had been the way Musk and Tesla had hyped Tesla's abilities, including videos of both Musk and his wife with their hands off the steering wheel.
"NHTSA is simply too cozy with the industry it is supposed to be regulating," added Simpson.
