Fed launches investigation into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles after multiple accidents

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into the Actual Smart Summon feature after receiving reports of cars failing to notice obstacles.

Tesla’s safety record is under scrutiny again, and yes, the issue is related to the automaker’s self-driving technology. This time, the remote summon technology has attracted the attention of regulators, who have received multiple reports of accidents that may affect 2.6 million vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was aware of an incident in which a Tesla vehicle failed to detect obstacles, including pillars and parked vehicles, when the Actual Smart Summon feature was enabled, and had seen Three other related incidents were reported in the media.

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In fact, Smart Summon – which Tesla itself abbreviates to… ASS for the sake of brevity – was launched last fall and is said to be a superior successor to the earlier, simpler Smart Summon, which Owners are only allowed to use the following methods to move electric vehicles into and out of parking spaces. Smartphone. ASS goes a step further and lets owners use their phones to guide the car to themselves or another location.

But according to reports obtained by NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigation, ASS is not that smart and users cannot prevent the vehicle from causing an accident. The agency said the driver’s “reaction time was too short to avoid the collision, either within available line of sight or by releasing a phone application button that would have stopped the vehicle’s movement.”

That’s not to say that older versions of Smart Summon were perfect. ODI revealed that it has received 12 crash reports related to this feature. One thing that has irked safety investigators is Tesla’s failure to report any Smart Summon or ASS crashes, violating the “General Order requiring the reporting of crashes involving ADS or Level 2 ADAS that occur on public roadways.” collision accident”.

ODI’s next steps are to study the top speed capabilities of ASS-enabled electric vehicles, “design operating limitations for use on public roads, and line-of-sight requirements.” The findings could lead to deeper research and possibly a recall.

The video above shows the ASS performing flawlessly (well, it’s from a Tesla, so that’s no surprise), and we can all think of hundreds of times when it rained or we were carrying heavy items, and having your car roar by would be pretty… Convenient and pick you up. But when Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD systems require the driver’s presence for normal road use (and can’t be trusted not to directly hit a moving train), how on earth are they allowed to do so without anyone present? What about driving in a busy parking lot? wheel?