|
Consumer Reports, which has 8 million subscribers and issues
annual ratings of cars, wants Tesla to disable the current
system, require drivers to keep their hands on the wheel as part
of an updated driver assist system and stop referring to the
product as Autopilot.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
is investigating the May 7 crash and death in Florida of a Model
S driver who was using Autopilot.
Consumer Reports said the Autopilot name "promotes a potentially
dangerous assumption that the Model S is capable of driving on
its own."
"By marketing their feature as ‘Autopilot,’ Tesla gives
consumers a false sense of security,” said Laura MacCleery, vice
president of consumer policy and mobilization for Consumer
Reports.
"We’re deeply concerned that consumers are being sold a pile of
promises about unproven technology. ‘Autopilot’ can't actually
drive the car, yet it allows consumers to have their hands off
the steering wheel for minutes at a time."
Consumer Reports also urged Tesla fully test safety systems
before public deployment.
Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment
Thursday, but Consumer Reports included a statement from the
company defending the system.
"While we appreciate well-meaning advice from any individual or
group, we make our decisions on the basis of real-world data,
not speculation by media,” Tesla's statement said.
Tesla, in a blog post in June about the crash, described
Autopilot as being in a "public beta phase" and said customers
have to opt in before activation. Chief Executive Elon Musk
tweeted on July 10 that "beta" means "any system (with) less
than 1B miles of real world driving."
The magazine also urged NHTSA to step up oversight of cars with
features like Autopilot. Under current regulations, NHTSA
doesn't test or approve the systems.
Earlier this week, NHTSA said it wants records of how many times
the system told drivers to put their hands on the wheel and how
often that led to the car automatically reducing vehicle power.
Tesla said Tuesday its autosteer software, the steering function
in Autopilot, was enabled during a Sunday crash involving a
Model X in Montana. Tesla said data suggested "the driver’s
hands were not on the steering wheel."
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
