On December 22, Reuters said that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has officially launched a safety investigation into 580,000 Tesla vehicles because Tesla allows passengers to play games on the front central touch screen of the vehicle, and the function "may distract the driver and increase the risk of collision."
NHTSA said its preliminary assessment covers Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model X and Model Y vehicles of various models from 2017 to 2022, totaling 580,000 vehicles. NHTSA will evaluate various aspects of Tesla's "passenger play" feature, including how often it is used and usage scenarios.
At this year's Model S Plaid delivery ceremony, Elon Musk announced that the new Model S's car processor performance reached the level of Sony PS5 game consoles, and demonstrated playing Cyberpunk 2077 in the car. It is reported that the number of Tesla's car games has exceeded 20. Although the Tesla car has a warning sign, "the function of playing the game while the car is running is only open to passengers", that is, the game function requires confirmation that the player can play only if he is a passenger, but in fact, the driver only needs to press the confirmation button and can play the game completely.
In 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued guidelines for the design of in-vehicle equipment that cannot be used by drivers to perform secondary tasks that distract them while driving. On November 29 of this year, Mercedes-Benz recalled 227 vehicles in the United States because the vehicle's automotive infotainment system "may activate TV and Internet displays while driving, distracting drivers."
Editor's comments: The first attribute of the car is the means of transportation, and safe driving and safe arrival are its first mission. However, with the penetration of intelligence, more and more manufacturers will play games, shopping, watch movies and other entertainment functions as selling points, known as the car into a "mobile home" and "mobile cinema". However, the car is first and foremost a car, and if it gives the car too many entertainment functions and neglects the pre-supervision, it is harmful and unhelpful to traffic safety.