Tesla Faces Intensified US Safety Probe Over ‘Full-Self Driving’

U.S. auto safety regulators escalated an investigation of Tesla Inc.’s partially automated driving system marketed as “Full-Self Driving,” citing additional crashes pointing to potential flaws in the technology’s ability to handle driving conditions with reduced visibility.

A review of the incidents raised concern that the system fails to detect and warn drivers appropriately when the visibility of the vehicle’s cameras is degraded, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a memo posted to its website. The agency this week upgraded its probe, started in 2024, to what it calls an engineering analysis.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News.

The move, which could provide the basis for NHTSA to eventually seek a recall, heightens scrutiny of technology that underpins Tesla’s future ambitions around autonomous driving and robotaxi operations. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has said the automaker’s ability to develop autonomous-vehicle technology ultimately will determine whether the company is worth lots of money, or “basically zero.”

The new NHTSA memo disclosing the probe identified nine crashes involving the automated system, up from four when it first began investigating in 2024. In crashes the agency reviewed, “the FSD system did not detect common roadway conditions that impaired its visibility and/or provide alerts when camera performance had deteriorated until immediately before the crash occurred.”

NHTSA also said Tesla cited company “data and labeling limitations” when seeking to identify additional similar incidents, which the agency said could have led to an under-reporting of crashes during some time periods.

Top photo: A Tesla Inc. robotaxi in Austin, Texas. Bloomberg.