Tesla's front foot was recalled, and Musk had a headache on his back foot
Text/Shanshan Xu
Musk, who just shouted on the front foot of the IRS to "ask for hospitality", must have begun to have a headache again.
BILD am Sonntag quoted a spokesperson for the German Motor Transport Authority (KBA) as saying it was investigating the automatic lane-changing feature of Tesla vehicles and whether it was approved for use in Europe.
The German local media pointed out that the German Ministry of Transport has contacted the European Complete Vehicle Type Certification (WVTA) agency. It is understood that all Tesla models have been licensed by the RDW and PDI certification bodies located in Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Theoretically, WVTA-certified vehicles will be able to be sold on the European market. But the focus of the KBA investigation is clearly not on qualifications, but on Tesla's semi-autonomous driving system Autopilot.
The more high-profile, the more attention is introduced
Although Musk is becoming more and more like an unguarded Internet celebrity, he is undoubtedly one of the industry's biggest contributors to the promotion of completely driverless cars. But because of this, Tesla's life has become more and more difficult.
Although KBA did not specify the specific investigation motive this time, it had to be reminiscent of Tesla's frequent traffic accidents. It is not only Germany that has its eye on Tesla.
According to US media statistics, from 2018 to 2021, Tesla has had a total of 12 collisions, causing 17 injuries and 3 deaths. It is worth noting that the autopilot function of the vehicle was in operation at the time of these accidents.
What made the US regulatory authorities start to pay attention to Tesla was a traffic accident in Texas in 2021. At that time, a 2019 Tesla Model S was in a car accident after turning on the L2 intelligent driving system due to the failure to turn in time. The accident resulted in the death of 2 people on the spot, and the driver was also charged with manslaughter.
Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has re-investigated the possible problems of Tesla's intelligent driving system.
Earlier, Tesla had to recall more than 50,000 cars in the United States because of the "Rolling stop" function of its vehicles, which caused widespread concern in the industry. According to NHTSA, the "Rolling stop" feature of Tesla vehicles cannot stop and drive forward in stop sign lots, which means that if the Autopilot system is run, it will increase the risk of collision.
It is foreseeable that Tesla may face increasingly stringent regulatory hurdles in promoting the commercialization of fully driverless technology. As long as there is a problem with the smart driving function, Musk's head disease will not stop.
But then again, Tesla's official website has clearly marked that "the current Autopilot function requires the active supervision of the driver, and the vehicle cannot achieve automatic driving", and Tesla owners who try to completely free their hands can wait.
The more avant-garde, the more high-profile
It must be admitted that although Tesla has been criticized, since the release of the Autopilot system in 2015, the American electric vehicle brand has been at the forefront of the smart automotive industry. Although some car brands have successively released the L4 self-driving car mass production schedule, the actual progress and landing effect are still unknown.
The "S-curve" of Tesla's four technologies @ twitter
Tesla is continuing to upgrade and improve its autopilot capabilities through OTAs. As of now, the company has begun to push the FSD Beta 10.9 update to car owners to further enhance the driving experience.
The FSD beta program was officially launched in October 2020 and has not directly caused accidents or injuries to vehicles.
Whole Mars Catalog@ twitter
The "pure vision" solution has always been the biggest highlight of Tesla's FSD intelligent driving system. However, from its official website, it can be understood that Tesla Model 3 and other models are equipped with 8 surround cameras, but also equipped with 12 ultrasonic radar sensors.
At the same time, Tesla has developed its own deep neural network and vision processing suite, on the basis of which it can achieve a higher level of intelligent driving functions.
The information shows that each Tesla model has basic driving assistance functions such as side impact warning, blind spot collision warning, front impact warning, speed limit alarm, obstacle induction speed limit, automatic emergency braking, lane departure prevention and avoidance. In addition, Tesla also provides active cruise control, assisted steering, automatic auxiliary lane change, assisted driving navigation and other functions.
The automatic auxiliary lane change that the German regulator intervened in the investigation is a higher level function on the AP and does not involve the NOA function. In other words, Tesla won't be in too much trouble this time.