The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Thursday it will open an investigation into Tesla’s self-driving car system, covering all 765,000 vehicles the company has sold in the U.S. since 2014.
According to NHTSA, at least 17 people have been injured and one person has died after a self-driving Tesla car crashed into a stalled vehicle with safety signs in at least 11 accidents since 2018.
In addition, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended to NHTSA and Tesla that Tesla vehicles should be restricted from turning on autonomous driving mode only on safe sections of the road. At the same time, more effective means should be found to urge drivers to remain focused in autonomous driving mode. But the NTSB can only give guidance to the NHTSA and has no authority to ask it to implement them.
