Tesla recalls over 362,000 cars to fix full-self-driving software flaws

Regulators said the current software does not adhere to traffic safety laws.
Ameya Paleja
Tesla Service Center
Tesla Service Center

jetcityimage/iStock 

Elon Musk's Tesla recalls over 362,000 cars to fix flaws in the self-driving software that can risk crashes, The Guardian reported. The recall comes on the instructions of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has an ongoing investigation of 830,000 Tesla vehicles over a string of crashes into parked emergency vehicles.

The directive also comes in the same week after an advertisement aired during the recently concluded Super Bowl allegedly showed Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software mowing down child mannequins and ignoring safety warnings in tests.

Flaws with Full-Self-Driving in Tesla cars

The FSD program is still far from perfect, but it is installed in hundreds of thousands of Tesla cars to aid drivers with steering on highways and urban streets while changing lanes or navigating intersections. The program is still in the Beta phase, and Tesla recommends that drivers remain in complete control of the vehicle, even when the FSD feature is on.

According to The Verge, the NHTSA highlights four specific situations before asking for a recall. These were navigating intersections during a "stale" yellow light, how long the car halts at a stop sign when the intersection is clear, how the vehicle adjusts its speed when new speed limits are changed, and how the car changes lanes to get out of a 'turn-only' street.

The NHTSA said that the FSD software allowed vehicles to "exceed speed limits or travel through intersections unlawfully or unpredictably increases the risk of a crash." NHTSA's directive applies to 326,758 cars across 2016-2023 Model S, Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with FSD Beta software or pending installation, The Guardian said in its report.

The move is a rare intervention in a real-world testing program that is crucial for Tesla as it looks to develop self-driving cars. The recall is also a setback for Elon Musk's Tesla, which is looking to promote the artificial intelligence capabilities of its vehicles during the upcoming Investor Day on March 1. When ready, Tesla expects to sell the FSD suite for $15,000 to car owners.

Last year, the company had to recall 54,000 vehicles equipped with the software that did not come to a complete halt at some intersections. Although Tesla does not concur with the NHTSA's assessment at this point in time, it plans to release an over-the-air (OTA) software upgrade to address the issue.

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