Federal officials have asked Tesla for documents related to the company’s self-driving software, which the automaker has disclosed, a potential setback for the technology that CEO Elon Musk has identified as a key competitive advantage.
Tesla said in one annual report on Monday and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had received requests from the Justice Department “for documents related to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD capabilities.”
Autopilot, introduced in 2015, is a Collection of technologies developed to steer, brake and accelerate vehicles independently.
For nearly two years, Tesla has also been testing a technology it calls Completely self-propelled, or FSD, with a limited number of car owners. This system aims to extend autopilot technology beyond highways to city streets. Both technologies require close supervision by a human driver.
The features have drawn lawsuits from owners who say it’s not delivering on Mr Musk’s promises. And others are investigating the security of the technologies.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the primary auto safety agency in the United States, is investigating Autopilot after learning of 35 accidents involving the system, including nine resulting in 14 fatalities. His research covers 830,000 vehicles sold in the United States and looks at full self-driving and autopilot.
In its filing reporting the Justice Department’s requests, Tesla stated, “To our knowledge, no government agency has concluded in an ongoing investigation that any wrongdoing has occurred.” It added that “should the government decide to to undertake an enforcement action”, which could have a significant impact on the company’s finances.
Tesla didn’t provide any further details and didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The Justice Department declined to comment.
Speaking to investors last week, Mr Musk said FSD technology gives Tesla “a tremendous advantage” by generating revenue from people who already own cars. Tesla charges $199 per month for owners to upgrade the basic Autopilot software to Full Self-Driving.
In its owner’s manual and other documents, Tesla has long said that drivers must keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road to be ready to take control of the car at all times. With the current system, cars turn off autopilot if the driver doesn’t consistently keep a hand on the wheel.
Nonetheless, Mr. Musk has often described the technology as capable of fully driving cars or on the way to autonomous operation. The technology’s name also implies that it can be operated without supervision.
In 2016, he said that Tesla vehicles would leave the factory with all the hardware they would need to achieve autonomy – a statement that surprised and worried some Tesla employees working on the project. Since then, he has repeatedly said that autonomy was only a year or two away.
In two complaints in July, the California Department of Motor Vehicles accused Tesla of misleading customers by running ads claiming that vehicles equipped with its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies were autonomous.
If the two complaints filed with the state Bureau of Administrative Hearings are successful, Tesla’s licenses to manufacture and sell vehicles in California — by far the country’s largest market for electric vehicles — could be suspended or revoked.
In 2019, a German court ruled that Tesla couldn’t use the term “autopilot” on its website and other marketing materials in the country, but the ruling was overturned last year. A Tesla owner in the US last year sued the company for fraud and breach of contract because his cars couldn’t actually drive themselves.
Tesla regularly releases a “Safety Report” showing that accidents are less common when using Autopilot. But the numbers are deceptive Researchers have shown. Independent experts have said it’s difficult to determine how secure the technology is.
In September, several Tesla owners filed a lawsuit in federal court, accusing the company of fraud, violations of consumer protection laws, and false advertising. The lawsuit alleged that Tesla “made misleading and deceptive claims about the company’s advanced driver assistance systems in connection with self-driving claims.”
