NewzWASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — United States (US) auto safety regulators have opened an inquiry into Tesla's driverless Cybercab, questioning how the company concluded that a vehicle with no steering wheel, pedals or mirrors meets federal safety rules. In a filing late Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would examine the process and technical data Tesla relied on when certifying the two-seater vehicle. The announcement came hours after the company began deploying the Cybercab commercially in Austin, Texas, after a launch event.
Tesla has touted what it called the vehicle's safety and ease of use for disabled people, and said the Cybercab was "democratising clean transportation for all." In the United States, automakers certify their own vehicles as compliant with the federal standards. Tesla notified the agency it had certified the Cybercab as meeting all applicable standards, and that it planned to widen deployment to more vehicles and more locations. NHTSA said it would weigh how much that certification rested on Tesla's own determinations that certain standards simply do not apply to a car lacking permanently attached manual controls.
Tesla began driverless service in Austin last year using Model Y SUVs, expanding to cities in Texas, Florida and California. State rules require many of those vehicles to carry a human supervisor who is able to take over. Tesla had registered 314 robotaxis in Texas as of Wednesday, including 45 Cybercabs, according to FSD Database, based on data from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
Waymo, the self-driving vehicle subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, offers its services in 11 US cities. NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators are opening an investigation into whether Tesla's new steering-wheel-free taxis comply with safety rules a day after the company began offering rides in the vehicles.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was looking into whether Tesla was in full compliance with federal rules in deploying so-called Cybercabs in Austin, Texas, given that the two-seater cars lack steering wheels, mirrors or brake pedals typically required of all vehicles.The head of the company, Elon Musk, kicked off his Cybercab service in Austin on Thursday with fanfare, sending dozens of the futuristic taxis into the city streets and holding a launch event for invitees.Tesla stock was down more than 5% to $357.38 in early trading Friday on news of the probe, reversing many of the gains a day earlier.Tesla did not respond immediately to a request for comment.Before the launch, Tesla had said it had relied on a self-certification procedure to make sure the Cybercabs were in compliance, but the agency apparently is unsure if the taxis do indeed meet standards. In its filing, the agency said it will now conduct an audit to “examine the process and technical data” that Tesla used in the certification.The Austin service Thursday kicked off what Musk says will be a national rollout of a cheap, driverless taxi service that he promises to transform the way people travel.Musk plans to integrate Cybercabs, which lack manual controls so passengers could take over in an emergency, into the company's existing cab service that up to now uses just normal Tesla vehicle.
That robotaxi network has been operating in Austin for more than a year, but has also begun offering rides in five other Texas and Florida cities.The company is facing several federal investigation into the safety of its self-driving software.One probe is examining the software’s role in several Tesla crashes in fog, sun glare and other low-visibility conditions, including one in which a pedestrian was killed. Another is investigating dozens of incidents in which Teslas using partial self-driving software ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries. A third is examining why Tesla apparently violated regulatory requirements by failing to report crashes promptly.
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