Musk's robotaxis under probe after video shows wrong-lane driving in Texas

Business Standard

6 hours ago

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday that it has asked Tesla for information about the apparent errors
Press Trust of India Washington
Federal traffic safety regulators are looking into suspected problems with Elon Musk's test run of self-driving "robotaxis" in Texas after videos surfaced showing them braking suddenly or going straight through an intersection from a turning lane and driving down the wrong side of the road.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday that it has asked Tesla for information about the apparent errors. Though many other videos show robotaxis driving perfectly, if regulators find any major issues, that would likely raise questions about Musk's repeated statements that the robotaxis are safe and his claim that Tesla will dominate a future in which nearly all cars on road will have no one behind the wheel or even need a steering wheel at all.
"NHTSA is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information," the agency said in a statement.
Passengers in Tesla robotaxis on the road in Austin, Texas, have generally been impressed, and the stock rose 8 per cent Monday. Investors grew more cautious Tuesday after news of NHTSA's inquiry, and the stock fell more than 2 per cent.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A bullish Tesla financial analyst who was driven around in a robotaxi on Sunday when the test runs began said his ride was perfect and suggested the videos on X and YouTube showing errors were no big deal.
"Any issues they encounter will be fixed," said Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives, calling the test a "huge success" in the past three days "despite the sceptics." One of those sceptics, a Telemetry Insight expert in car technology, said the videos were alarming enough that the tests as currently run should be halted.
"The system has always had highly erratic performance, working really well a lot of the time but frequently making random and inconsistent but dangerous errors," said Sam Abuelsamid in a text, referring to Tesla's self-driving software. "This is not a system that should be carrying members of the public or being tested on public roads without trained test drivers behind the wheel." In one video, a Tesla moves into a lane with a big yellow arrow indicating it is for left turns only but then goes straight through the intersection instead, entering an opposing lane on the other side. The car seems to realise it made some mistake and begins to swerve several times, with the steering wheel jerking back and forth, before eventually settling down.
But the Tesla proceeds in the opposing lane for 10 seconds. At the time, there was no oncoming traffic.
The passenger in the car who posted the video, money manager Rob Maurer, shrugged off the incident.
"There are no vehicles anywhere in sight, so this wasn't a safety issue," Maurer said in commentary accompanying his video. "I didn't feel uncomfortable in the situation." Another video shows a Tesla stopping twice suddenly in the middle of the road, possibly responding to the flashing lights of police cars. But the police are obviously not interested in the Tesla or traffic in front or behind it because they have parked on side roads not near it, apparently responding to an unrelated event.
Federal regulators opened an investigation last year into how Teslas with what Musk calls Full Self-Driving have responded in low-visibility conditions after several accidents, including one that was fatal. Tesla was forced a recall 2.4 million of its vehicles at the time.
Musk has said his Teslas using Full Self-Driving are safer than human drivers and his robotaxis using a newer, improved version of the system will be so successful so quickly that he will be able to deploy hundreds of thousands of them on the road by the end of next year.
Even if the Austin test goes well, though, the billionaire faces big challenges. Other self-driving companies have launched taxis, including Amazon's Zoox and current market leader Waymo, which is not only is picking up passengers in Austin, but several other cities. The company recently announced it had clocked its 10 millionth paid ride.
Musk needs a win in robotaxis. His work on in Trump administration as cost-cutting czar has alienated many buyers among Tesla's traditional environmentally conscious and liberal base in the US, tanking sales. Buyers in Europe having balked, too, after Musk embraced some extreme right-wing politicians earlier this year in both Britain and Germany.
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