U.S. Auto Agency: We hope to end the Tesla safety investigation as soon as possible

A few days ago, there were media reports that the head of the top car safety regulator in the United States said on Thursday that he hoped the agency would end the investigation of the accident involving Tesla's autopilot system as soon as possible.

Steven Cliff, deputy director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has been nominated as its director. Asked about the agency's investigation into Tesla, he said: "We want to close these investigations as soon as possible." But he didn't provide a precise timeline.

Cliff added that the agency is working closely with automakers to investigate. "We are currently collecting data and will soon be able to determine the next steps." He said. Tesla has not commented on this.

After Tesla vehicles collided with multiple emergency vehicles, NHTSA launched a formal safety investigation in August into Tesla's Autopilot system installed on 765,000 cars in the United States. The survey is still in the preliminary evaluation phase, with NHTSA planning to complete the assessment within 120 days before deciding whether to upgrade to engineering analysis or end there. NHTSA must conduct an engineering analysis to require automakers to recall vehicles.

So far, NHTSA has identified 12 accidents involving Tesla and emergency vehicles using the Autopilot system. NHTSA asked Tesla in October why it hadn't provided a recall to address the software update, allowing Autopilot Driver Assistance to better detect emergency vehicles. Tesla recalled nearly 12,000 vehicles sold since 2017 in the U.S. in November because communication errors could lead to misinformation of forward collision warnings or accidental activation of emergency brakes.

NHTSA also separately evaluated 30 Tesla accidents since 2016 that resulted in a total of 10 deaths, and advanced driver assistance systems may have been turned on at the time of the accident. NHTSA said last week that it was discussing with Tesla the company's software update, which would allow users to play games on the dashboard's touchscreen, and the decision not to replace some cameras through a recall.

Under pressure from NHTSA, Tesla agreed in February to recall 135,000 cars with touchscreens that could fail and increase the risk of collision. NHTSA warns that the problem can lead to image loss in the rearview mirrors or backup cameras, as well as failure of the external turn signal and windshield first frost system.