Car manufacturer Tesla, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, is recalling two million cars – almost every one sold in the US since 2015 – as the driver assistance system, Autopilot, is partly defective.
The recall comes after a two-year investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (USHTSA) into a series of crashes that happened when Autopilot was being used. The USHTSA investigated 956 incidents involving Teslas and found that found that “the prominence and scope of the feature’s controls may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse”. It will continue to monitor Autopilot after the update has been deployed.
Tesla has responded saying that a software update will be sent out ‘over the air’ to rectify the problem, which means that owners will not have to take their vehicle back to a dealership.
Autopilot is designed to help drivers with steering, acceleration and braking – although drivers are still required to have input – and is only used in certain situations such as on highways. Autopilot is used in some territories around the world, such as China, but not others, such as the UK.
While Tesla has not commented publicly, on the recall notice, it said the company didn’t concur with the USHTSA but would add features to resolve their concerns.
