NHTSA missed an opportunity to put limits on Autopilot.
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Senate Democrats urge crackdown on autonomous vehicles and driver assist
The federal government isn’t taking seriously the dangers posed by fully autonomous vehicles, as well as driver-assist features like Tesla Autopilot, the senators argue.
Two prominent Senate Democrats are calling for increased scrutiny of autonomous vehicles and advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) like Tesla’s Autopilot, arguing that the unimpeded flow of highly automated vehicles on public roads in recent years risks exacerbating the traffic safety crisis in the US.
Automakers and tech companies say the technology can lead to safer streets. But there have been a number of
high-profile incidents in recent years involving fully autonomous vehicles, as well as
hundreds of crashes and dozens of fatalities in vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assist systems. The two senators, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA), argue that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s regulatory authority is at risk of being outpaced by the technology.
“We cannot allow partially automated driving systems and ADS to accelerate the road safety crisis,” they write. “NHTSA must take firm control of the wheel and steer manufacturers towards prioritizing safety.”
They urge NHTSA to use its recall authority to prohibit some driver-assist features from being used on certain roads. The senators say that NHTSA missed an opportunity to put limits on Tesla’s Autopilot earlier this when
it recalled the feature over concerns about drivers using it on roads where it wasn’t intended to operate.
“We remain concerned that Autopilot, and features like it in other vehicles, could lead drivers to become overconfident and distracted, putting them and other road users at risk,” Blumenthal and Markey write in a letter to NHTSA Acting Administrator Sophie Shulman.
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