NHTSA Presses Tesla Over Robotaxi Incidents After Chaotic Austin Debut

Following the launch of its limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, over the weekend, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is requesting additional details from Tesla. The government agency's investigation follows the release of several videos that went viral online, showing Tesla's self-driving cars engaging in dangerous behavior, such as driving the wrong way and stopping abruptly in traffic.

Sunday was the first day that Tesla tested its new "FSD Unsupervised" driving technology in 10 to 20 Model Y cars. As part of an early-access robotaxi test, the vehicles can only operate during daylight hours, when the weather is favorable, and with a human valet seated in the front passenger seat.

A spokesperson for the NHTSA confirmed that the agency is "aware of the incidents in question and is in contact with the manufacturer to obtain further information." Tesla has not commented on the government investigation yet, and executives Lars Moravy and Casey Blaine have not responded to questions about their knowledge.

Even though Tesla's stock rose 8% on Monday following the news about the robotaxi, the rollout did little to clarify long-standing questions about the company's autonomous driving capabilities. CEO Elon Musk has been making promises for years, such as cross-country driverless drives and a million robotaxis by 2020, but none of those goals have been fulfilled.

In Tesla's latest pilot, participants in the early-access program must agree to the terms of participation. Most of the people invited are known to back Musk and Tesla. People discussed the first one as a significant step forward, but it raised safety concerns rather than demonstrating the advanced capabilities of technology.

The NHTSA made it clear that it does not pre-approve new technologies for cars and will take the necessary steps if safety problems are identified. Following earlier accidents, the government is still investigating Tesla's "FSD Beta" system.

Meanwhile, Tesla is behind competitors such as Alphabet's Waymo, which has already provided more than 10 million paid robotaxi rides, and several Chinese companies that are already operating fully driverless business fleets.

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