NEW YORK: Elon Musk has repeatedly said that his cars will soon become fully autonomous, but Tesla remains ambiguous about the true capabilities of its vehicles' advanced driver assistance systems and does not hesitate to circumvent traffic safety rules.
And circulating online videos showing Tesla cars driving in a tight bend and suddenly passing other cars, which shows that the performance of these cars in light of the latest driver assistance system “FSD Beta” may be erratic.
The group owned by Elon Musk agreed in early February to recall about 54,000 cars equipped with the “FSD Beta” system for remote disabling, an option that allows cars not to stop completely at stop lights on the roads in certain cases.
"It was not a simple engineering error, but a deliberate decision by (Tesla) to break traffic laws," says Phil Koopman, a specialist in the safety of autonomous vehicles at Carnegie Mellon University.
Last summer, the US Traffic Safety Authority launched an investigation after recording a series of collisions between Tesla cars equipped with the Autopilot system and emergency and first aid vehicles.
In recent days, the authority has also opened a new investigation related to the Autopilot system, after complaints from concerned drivers about unexpected braking situations.
Michael Brooks, CEO of the Center Group, which specializes in car safety, says, "Tesla, in many ways, violates road safety rules and launches marketing ideas that give consumers the impression that cars are more advanced than they really are."
No new licenses
In the United States, new cars are not given licenses that allow them to be put on the market before they are tested on the roads. Manufacturers only have to prove that their vehicles comply with applicable safety rules.
The US Traffic Safety Authority intervenes if it considers cars to violate standards or present an "unreasonable risk".
And the legal expert in autonomous driving at Stanford University, Bryant Walker Smith, points to the absence of rules related to some things, such as cruise control devices, for example.
Under the Trump administration, the US Traffic Safety Agency focused its efforts on creating a new framework for self-driving vehicles that is still forgotten today. Under its new management, it began paying more attention to the impact of modern technologies on road safety.
In June, it requested that it be informed of all collisions involving cars equipped with specific driver assistance systems or autonomous driving systems, and also requested more information after the launch of the investigation into emergency vehicle accidents and first aid.
"The department continues its research on new technologies, including driver assistance tools, and is monitoring their performance in real conditions," a management spokeswoman told AFP.
“Deceitful and irresponsible”
Tesla is integrating the Autopilot system into all of its new cars, which allows adapting the vehicle's speed to traffic and maintaining its lane on the road.
The group also offers various options such as changing lanes, parking assistance and paying attention to traffic lights, in packages called “Enhanced Autopilot” or “Full Autonomous Driving Capability”.
Tesla promises to introduce Automated City Driving soon. But the manufacturer has previously begun to test this function in real conditions with a growing number of motorists, currently about 60,000.
The group states on its website that the driver must remain alert with his hands on the steering wheel at all times.
In a letter sent to California authorities last year, Tesla points out that all of these jobs are within Level 2 of the Society of Automotive Engineers' six-level scale of autonomous driving, and therefore do not need to be subject to stricter rules for autonomous driving tests.
However, Elon Musk continues to praise the advantages of his programs, and clearly asserts that his goal is to reach an independent driving system such as the systems called “autopilot” or “completely autonomous driving.”
"Tesla is trying to get everything without any consideration, in a dishonest and irresponsible way," Bryant Walker-Smith said.
Smith does not exclude other manufacturers, which "have been advertising for decades about fast desert vehicles." But a number of developers of more advanced self-driving systems from Tesla, such as Waymo, are "more reluctant" to show off their capabilities.
The specialist believes that Tesla's actions are unfortunate, because the tools developed by the group can actually help reduce risks on the roads, as a large number of traffic accidents are caused by the inattention of drivers.
(AFP)