Auto-pilot driving hits setback with ‘unpredictable’ behaviour

NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a preliminary evaluation in October “to assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety consequences of FSD executing driving manoeuvres that constitute traffic safety violations” after numerous reported incidents for Teslas in the US.
While the FSD modules cannot be legally activated in Australian Tesla models, where automated driving above Level 2 is still to be legislated, the review will be of interest for the progress of higher levels of ADAS.
The US investigation involves supervised FSD on a range of Tesla models operating in the US over the last five years but the wider implications of the technology could affect more than two million vehicles currently in operation.
The review relates to FSD on Teslas that require a fully attentive driver engaged in driving tasks at all times, according to the investigation report.
The Office of Defects Investigation reported 18 complaints including incidents where the behaviour of the vehicle at traffic lights was reported as unpredictable to the driver.
According to Repairer Driven News the investigation will focus on whether certain driving inputs, within the control authority of FSD, prevent the driver from supervising the vehicle when they are unexpectedly performed.
“ODI has identified a number of incidents in which the inputs to the dynamic driving task commanded by FSD induced vehicle behaviour that violated traffic safety laws,” the report says. “Although reports of this nature span a variety of behaviours, the reports appear to most commonly involve two types of scenarios.
“The first type of scenario involves a vehicle operating with FSD proceeding into an intersection in violation of a red traffic signal. The second type of scenario involves FSD commanding a lane change into an opposing lane of traffic.”
The Standing General Order requires manufacturers, developers, and operators to report a crash to NHTSA within five days if automated driving systems, which include SAE Levels 3 through 5, were in use at any time within 30 seconds of the crash resulting in certain property damage or injury.
The same reporting requirement applies to Level 2 ADAS if the crash involved a vulnerable road user being struck or resulted in a fatality, an air bag deployment, or any individual being transported to a hospital for medical treatment.
The report also noted the six reported FSD incidents with four crashes resulted in one or more reported injuries with some of the incidents appeared to involve FSD proceeding into the intersection after coming to a complete stop, ODI said.
The ODI wants to review and assess warnings to the driver about the system’s impending behaviour and the time given to drivers to respond;
NHTSA’s review will consider any updates or modifications to the systems that may affect FSD performance in obeying traffic safety laws and signals.