AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/28 Report--

On April 26, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a new investigation into whether Tesla's previous recall of automatic driving assistance (Autopilot) met safety standards, covering Model Y, X, S, 3 and Cybertruck models with Autopilot produced in the United States from 2012 to 2024. It is understood that the reason being investigated is that there have been a number of collision accidents in these models after the recall, and the monitoring agencies are worried about the preliminary test results of the software function upgrade of the recalled vehicles.

NHTSA pointed out that in the nearly three years of investigation into the Autopilot system, which was first launched in August 2021, the results showed that there were at least 467 crashes, including 13 fatal accidents. NHTSA believes that Tesla's design of the Autopilot system led to "foreseeable misuse and avoidable collisions" and that the system "did not adequately ensure the attention and proper use of drivers", which may increase the risk of driving safety. In other words, Tesla hit other vehicles or obstacles head-on when he had enough reaction time. If the driver can keep enough attention at this time, the accident can be avoided or alleviated.

In December 2023, Tesla recalled 2.0312 million vehicles in the United States, almost all the models Tesla sold in the United States, including the 2012-2013 Model S, the 2016-2023 Model X, the 2017-2023 Model 3 and the 2020-2023 Model Y, covering all models equipped with FSD Beta (fully autonomous driving) software.

According to the recall announcement, all Tesla models equipped with FSD Beta (fully automatic driving) software have safety risks and cannot ensure that drivers still pay enough attention when the system starts self-driving. FSD Beta may cause vehicles to behave unsafely near intersections, such as going straight in lanes that can only turn, not fully stopping at intersections where complete parking is required, or rushing into intersections when the yellow light is on (without due vigilance). To this end, Tesla will solve this problem through OTA (Over-the-Air) updates, that is, remote software updates to the equipment through wireless communication technology. As the FSD was not introduced into the Chinese market, Tesla's recall did not affect domestic models.

It is understood that Tesla's Autopilot has L2-level autopilot, which means that under specific circumstances such as highways, the system can achieve functional requirements such as automatic parking, automatic auxiliary lane change, automatic identification of traffic lights and automatic response, parking intelligent summoning and other functional requirements, but this level of system requires drivers to "always monitor the traffic environment" and be ready to take over control. And Tesla added the word Auto (automatic) to the name of the product, which is misleading.

At present, many new energy vehicles have realized the functions of automatic lane change, automatic overtaking, automatic ramp and so on, and the whole driving process is very consistent. The difference is that Tesla has always advocated the visual radar scheme, while the mainstream practice of independent brands is to achieve high-level driving assistance through lidar combined with high-precision maps. The introduction of independent brands to assist driving in the city scene is also the courage of domestic car companies to challenge Tesla. Because Tesla has no R & D team to localize autopilot in China, and FSD needs much more localization work than NOA, Tesla FSD has never been able to be applied in China.

In recent years, the recall of Tesla at home and abroad is mainly OTA. Compared with the traditional recall, it is very convenient and convenient to upgrade without going to the store. This kind of recall is equivalent to upgrading, which further improves the safety of the vehicle and is acceptable. However, some netizens said that with the rapid intelligent development of new energy vehicles, models are more dependent on the engine system than traditional fuel models, and once there are problems, the impact on the function of the vehicle is more obvious.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat