Tesla Says It’s Updating Self-Driving Cars to No Longer Break the Law – Futurism

Tesla has agreed to update the software on almost 54,000 of its cars because a recent Full Self-Driving software update allowed them to break road rules and roll through stop signs without coming to a full stop.

Its the latest sign that regulators are becoming increasingly fed up of the Elon Musk-led companys efforts to automate but not fully automate, as the features name misleadingly suggests driving on public roads.

Tesla agreed to the recall after having two meetings with officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, according to the Associated Press.

Following discussions with NHTSA about our concerns, Tesla has informed the agency that it will conduct a recall of the Rolling Stop feature as one of the functionalities of the Driving Profile in its Full Self Driving software, reads an NHTSA statement to The Verge. In a new software update, a Rolling Stop will no longer be possible.

Theres a good deal ofevidence that the companys FSD beta, currently being tested by select customers on public roads, isnt quite ready for prime time. Several videos have shown vehicles with the feature turned on swerving towards pedestrians.

Tesla recently introduced an Assertive mode for its FSD software, an option that would perform more frequent lane changes, will not exit passing lanes, and may perform rolling stops, according to official documentation.

According to the NHTSAs documents, the feature allowed vehicles to travel past Stop signs at up to 5.6 mph, given a certain number of criteria including no other moving cars, pedestrians, or bicyclists, nearby are met.

Road safety advocates were appalled.

What happens when FSD decides a child crossing the street is not relevant and fails to stop? Philip Koopman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, told the AP. This is an unsafe behavior and should never have been put in vehicles.

Regulators, including the NHTSA, are increasingly becoming wary of Tesla and its self-driving features and the recall may point towards future interferences.

They keep pushing the bounds of safety to see what they can get away with, and theyve really been pushing a lot, Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the governors safety association, told the AP. Each time its just a little bit more egregious. Its good to see NHTSA is pushing back.

READ MORE: Tesla recall: Full Self-Driving software runs stop signs [AP]

More on FSD: Watch Elon Musk Promise Self-Driving Cars Next Year Every Year Since 2014

Care about supporting clean energy adoption? Find out how much money (and planet!) you could save by switching to solar power at UnderstandSolar.com. By signing up through this link, Futurism.com may receive a small commission.

Go here to see the original:
Tesla Says It's Updating Self-Driving Cars to No Longer Break the Law - Futurism