(New York) Tesla will update 362,758 cars to its driver assistance software, after a regulator uncovered malfunctions that can cause the vehicle to act in potentially dangerous ways at intersections.
Investors reacted badly to this notice published Thursday by the American Highway Safety Agency (NHTSA), and the title of the manufacturer of electric vehicles fell 5.69% during the session.
The recall covers all models in the range, S, X, Y and Model 3 equipped with FSD (Full Self-Driving) software or planned to receive it, but over different manufacturing periods, going back, for some, until to 2016.
The FSD, which is in the test phase, is a so-called level 2 software, which is more about driving assistance than autonomous driving.
According to the advisory released by NHTSA, software flaws, when enabled, can cause the vehicle to continue straight when it has entered a turn-off lane that theoretically requires a turn.
A car with the FSD software engaged can also cross an intersection with “stop” signs without observing a complete stop, or pass a crossroads with fixed amber lights without slowing down.
Affected vehicles may also “fail to react sufficiently to signaled changes in speed limits” or fail to intervene when a driver exceeds the maximum permitted speed, according to the agency.
To address these defects, reported by NHTSA, Tesla plans to perform a software update, at its own expense, the notice said. This recall does not require you to return your vehicle to a Tesla checkpoint.
“The term ‘reminder’ to describe a software update is anachronistic and simply wrong,” Elon Musk tweeted in response to the announcement.
In June 2022, the NHTSA published a report stating that Teslas equipped with driver assistance software, active at some time during the 30 seconds preceding the incident, had been involved in 273 accidents. road in the United States.
The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Tesla’s driver assistance systems, according to a document published in late January by the stock market regulator, the SEC.
In the document, Tesla recalled that the FSD and the other software, known as “Autopilot”, were “designed to be used by an alert driver whose hands are on the wheel and who is ready to regain control at any time”. .
But for several years, the manufacturer’s boss, Elon Musk, has regularly gone much further in his statements.
From 2019, he thus promised the commissioning, within the year, of a vehicle capable of ensuring completely autonomous driving, without any intervention from a passenger. No vehicle in the range is currently equipped with such software.
In an interview with the CNBC channel in October 2021, the boss of the American Agency responsible for investigating transport accidents (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy, called the use of the term “fully autonomous driving” “misleading”. “.