U.S. authorities are escalating and expanding a probe into Tesla’s controversial automated driving feature in a move that could prompt a mandatory recall.
On Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency under the guidance of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, said it would be expanding a probe and look into
830,000 Tesla cars across all four current model lines, 11% more vehicles than they were previously examining.
The move came after the agency analyzed a number of accidents that revealed patterns in the car’s performance and the associated driver’s behavior, concluding that the findings warranted an upgrade to an "Engineering Analysis" from a previous "Preliminary Evaluation." An Engineering Analysis can be the precursor to a recall.
It said the purpose of escalating the investigation was to “explore the degree to which Autopilot and associated Tesla systems may exacerbate human factors or behavioral safety risks by undermining the effectiveness of the driver’s supervision.”
Initially the probe started last year in response to Tesla vehicles mysteriously plowing into the scene of an existing accident where first responders were already present. On Thursday, NHTSA said it had discovered in 16 separate instances when this occurred that Autopilot “aborted vehicle control less than one second prior to the first impact,” suggesting the driver was not prepared to assume full control over the vehicle.