This is not the first time the NTSB has criticized NHTSA and Tesla.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on a sister agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), to introduce stricter requirements for self-driving technology. The NTSB letter said the agency should “develop a solid security foundation.” It is noteworthy that Tesla is mentioned 16 times on 15 pages of the document.
NTSB complains about Tesla testing self-driving technology on public roads
According to the NTSB, NHTSA has not yet succeeded in enforcing regulations that would prevent systems such as Tesla’s Autopilot from being used outside of their intended use.
“In the absence of NHTSA restrictions, manufacturers can operate and test vehicles virtually anywhere, even beyond the limits of automatic control systems,” the document says. For example, Tesla recently released a beta version of its Level 2 Autopilot system, which is credited with full self-driving capability. With its release, Tesla is testing highly automated technology on public roads with limited monitoring and reporting requirements. ”
