US probe into Tesla’s Autopilot woes includes 765,000 vehicles

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has identified 11 crashes since 2018 in which Teslas on Autopilot have hit vehicles at scenes where emergency responders used lights and flares.

The United States government opened a formal safety probe into Tesla’s partially automated driving system on Monday after a series of collisions between the firm’s electric cars and parked emergency vehicles over the past several years sparked concerns. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it has identified 11 crashes since January 2018 in which Teslas using the vehicles’ Autopilot or Traffic-Aware Cruise Control systems have hit emergency vehicles at scenes where first responders were using lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board or cones as warning signals. “The involved subject vehicles were all confirmed to have been engaged in either Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control during the approach to the crashes,” the NHTSA said in a statement. “The investigation will assess the technologies and methods used to monitor, assist and enforce the driver’s engagement with the dynamic driving task during Autopilot operation.”