US road safety authorities probe Tesla Autopilot after spate of crashes
At least 11 crashes and one fatality linked to the technology in the US will be investigated.
US road safety regulators have announced an investigation into Tesla’s Auto Pilot technology, citing a spate of incidents and one fatality since 2018.
While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has previously scrutinised the cause of at least 30 accidents individually, this represents the first federal probe into Tesla's autonomous driving technology.
According to the NHTSA, approximately 765,000 Tesla vehicles across the company's entire four-model range are equipped with the standard Autopilot system in North America.
It is unclear how many vehicles employ the upgraded 'Full Self-Driving’ beta technology, which largely operates without human input on highways and major roads, however requires an alert driver behind the steering wheel (classified as Level 3 autonomy).
Tesla shares took a dive immediately following the announcement, falling from $US717.17 ($AU981) to $US681.34 ($AU930). This represents a drop of 5.0 per cent.
CEO Elon Musk has consistently defended the system, and earlier this year tweeted: “Tesla with Autopilot engaged now approaching 10 times lower chance of accident than average vehicle.” Those figures were not substantiated.
Drive has reached out to Tesla Australia and the government department Austroads requesting comment on the local implications of the investigation. This story will be updated if further information becomes available.