Tesla reportedly defended the safety advantages of its driver assistance system Autopilot and Full Self-Drivin (FSD) but acknowledged that they require continuous monitoring and attention of the driver.
On February 8, local time, Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ed Markey sent a letter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, expressing their concerns about Tesla. “Serious concerns” have been expressed about the Autopilot and FSD systems, which have sparked scrutiny from safety regulators.
In a March 4 letter to senators, Rohan Patel, Tesla’s senior director of public policy and business development, said the features enhance customers’ ability to drive, making them “more capable than ever.” The average American driver is safer to drive.” The contents of the letter have not been previously reported by the media.
Both systems “require constant monitoring and attention from the driver,” Patel noted. Tesla vehicles, he said, are able to perform “some but not all of the dynamic driving tasks” that a human driver can perform all of these tasks.
Tesla said on its official website that Autopilot allows the vehicle to automatically steer, accelerate and brake, “requires active driver supervision, but does not allow the vehicle to drive itself.”
In a statement to Reuters, Blumenthal and Markey said the letter “demonstrates more of Tesla’s evasion and deviation. While Tesla’s safety record is worrying, it happened. Fatal crash, but the company seems to want business as usual.”
Tesla had no immediate comment.
In the letter, Patel said Tesla “understands the importance of training owners in Autopilot and FSD capabilities.” Autopilot can take the driver’s hands off the wheel occasionally, but Patel says torque-based hands-on detection of the steering wheel helps ensure driver focus.
More than a year ago, Tesla launched a beta version of the FSD system, enabling its vehicles to drive on city streets. Tesla has expanded FSD to 60,000 users, a move that has drawn criticism that the company is taking safety risks by letting untrained drivers test its technology on public roads.
The automaker faces multiple investigations. In their letter, the senators said, “Complaints and investigations (of Tesla) are disturbing: Tesla has repeatedly released software without adequate consideration of the risks and implications, causing serious harm to everyone on the road. danger.”
Under pressure from regulators, Tesla agreed in January to recall about 54,000 U.S. vehicles to modify the software to prevent vehicles from ignoring stop signs.