The auto regulator, which operates under the Transportation Department, is evaluating how effective the self-driving vehicles are in identifying degraded road conditions through an engineering analysis. The government’s probe of Elon Musk’s company focuses on Tesla’s “degradation detection” system, which is designed to recognize when visibility is impaired and warn drivers to take control, according to Reuters.
NHTSA’s investigation initially began in October, following reports that some Tesla vehicles in Full Self-Driving mode had run red lights, driven on the wrong side of the road, and attempted to drive through railroad crossings.
The probe covers roughly 3.2 million vehicles across multiple models, accounting for nearly all vehicles the company has sold in the U.S.
The development comes after Uber’s former self-driving lead, Raffi Krikorian, disclosed earlier this week that his Tesla crashed and was totaled while it was in self-driving mode. The Washington Examiner reached out to NHTSA for comment on whether the revelation is connected with its deepened scrutiny of Tesla.
“A machine that works perfectly needs no oversight. But a machine that works almost perfectly? That’s where the danger lies,” Krikorian wrote in an essay published Tuesday in The Atlantic.
Tesla is not the only auto company whose self-driving technology is being probed by the government. Ford’s BlueCruise program is also under investigation by the NHTSA after two deadly crashes in 2024 while the system was engaged. The National Transportation Safety Board is set to hold a hearing on March 31 to dig into what caused the two fatal BlueCruise crashes. And NHTSA opened a safety probe into the system in late January, after a preliminary investigation launched in April 2024 found the potential for the false detection of stationary objects at longer distances, among other issues.
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Waymo, the self-driving taxi company, has also attracted scrutiny after experiencing issues with its autonomous vehicles. Following a March 1 shooting in Austin, Texas, a Waymo vehicle was documented blocking an ambulance from reaching the scene where the gunman had fatally wounded three people.
“Self-driving vehicles are the future,” Tray Gober, an Austin personal injury lawyer who specializes in vehicle crash cases, told the Texas Tribune following the incident. “There will be less crashes because of self-driving vehicles. But the future isn’t today because these vehicles are not ready.”
