--- title: "Government Says Tesla Autopilot Crashes Have Continued After Patch That Was Supposed to Fix Them" description: "The NHTSA has found Tesla didn't adequately address the issue of driver attention when it comes to self-driving tech." date: "2024-05-08" modified: "2024-05-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nhtsa-tesla-autopilot-crashes-continued-patch" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "autopilot" - "elon musk" - "full self-driving" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Government Says Tesla Autopilot Crashes Have Continued After Patch That Was Supposed to Fix Them ![The NHTSA has found Tesla didn't adequately address the issue of driver attention when it comes to self-driving tech.]() *\Image: Apu Gomes/Getty Images\* ## Blind Eye In December, Tesla had to [issue software updates]() to over 2 million vehicles with Autopilot — but the crashes have continued after it. The recall followed a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into [hundreds of collisions]() and several dozen deaths involving the company's driver assistance software. This week, however, the NHTSA revealed in a [new filing]() that it had found Tesla didn't adequately address the issue, citing "[several concerns]()." In short, the Elon Musk-led company's relationship with federal regulators is as rocky as ever — and its notably laissez-faire approach to what it misleadingly calls "self-driving" tech isn't exactly scoring points in Washington, DC. ## Nags and Suspensions Last month, the NHTSA [released a scathing report]() finding that drivers who use Tesla's controversial "Full Self-Driving" add-on "were not sufficiently engaged in the driving task" and that Tesla "did not adequately ensure that drivers maintained their attention." At the time, the regulator revealed that it had opened a fresh investigation into the automaker's purported fix, asking it to provide more information. The NHTSA identified at least 20 crashes involving Tesla vehicles that had the latest Autopilot update installed. Nine of these 20 crashes involved vehicles slamming into objects in front of them. The regulator wants the EV maker to turn over a wealth of data, including telemetry collected during crashes involving either Autopilot or Full Self-Driving. It's not just the NHTSA — the Justice Department [has opened its own investigation](), suggesting Tesla may have [committed securities and wire fraud]() by making misleading claims about the company's "self-driving" tech. Musk has [long made eyebrow-raising claims]() about the autonomy of his carmaker's vehicles. Is reality catching up with the mercurial billionaire, with several government investigations probing Tesla and its driver assistance tech, right around the time the company is [going through a financial crisis]()? Musk has thrown much of the company's remaining weight behind the [development of a "robotaxi]()" at the cost of pretty much all the employees working on [Tesla's lauded Supercharger network](). It's a multibillion-dollar bet — and given [what we've seen so far](), the company still has a *lot* to prove. **More on Tesla:** *[Elon Musk Just Fired Yet Another Round of Tesla Workers]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()