Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. This is a show where we discuss. The critical. Crossroads That Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink, and I'm your host Will Walden. One more thing before we start, Google Podcasts is being discontinued by Google. So if you want to continue getting episodes. Of the Elon Musk. Podcast. Please check us out. Over at YouTube. Music Search us out. Over there. And that's where you'll be able
to find our. Our podcast through Google products. Thank you so much for understanding. I had no control. Over this. Google pulled the Google Podcast app off of. Android and I want to let you know where to continue finding the show. Over at YouTube Music Search for Elon Musk podcast, a recent federal investigation revealed that Tesla's Autopilot and full self driving features have been linked to numerous crashes, including hundreds of injuries and dozens of fatalities.
This investigation, which was spurred by a tragic incident involving a North Carolina student and a Tesla Model Y, shows that there are serious concerns about the safety and effectiveness of these technologies. In March of 2023, a high speed collision occurred when a Tesla Model 3 operating on Autopilot struck a 17 year old student as
he exited a school bus. This incident prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or the NHTSA, to scrutinize similar accidents involving Tesla's automated driving services. Now the NHTS, as extensive review, covered 956 incidents dating from January 2018 through August of 2023. They discovered a troubling pattern where Tesla's technology failed to ensure drivers remained engaged, resulting in 29 deaths and numerous injuries
across various scenarios. The findings indicate the drivers often disengage from the driving process while using Autopilot or full self driving. Despite Tesla's guidance on maintaining hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, many drivers became complacent, leading to catastrophic outcomes now, particularly concerning where the crashes involving
stationary emergency vehicles. These incidents typically occurred at night and involved Autopilot ignoring critical scene control measures like warning lights and cones, highlighting a grave oversight in Tesla system design. Now the NHTSA criticized Tesla for not designing a system to keep drivers adequately engaged. This flaw appears to have allowed drivers to over rely on Autopilot, thus not reacting quickly enough to avoid collisions as evidenced in 59
detailed crash investigations. Now analysis of these incidents show that often drivers had significant warning times up to 10 seconds before impact. They were not utilized effectively to prevent crashes, revealing a critical safety gap in Tesla's automation technology. And the agency also noted that Tesla's approach to automation different significantly from other manufacturers.
While others promote driver assistance as an aid, Tesla's branding suggest higher level of autonomy, which may mislead users about the capabilities and safe use of Autopilot and full self driving. Now, furthermore, the NHTSA has raised concerns about Tesla's failure to collect comprehensive telemetry data, suggesting that the true scale of issues related to Autopilot and full self driving could also be under
reported. And in response to these findings, Tesla implemented A voluntary recall issuing a software update intended to enhance driver monitoring and engagement alerts. However, ongoing reports of crashes have led to skepticism about the effectiveness of these updates and HTS as ongoing investigations and the recent findings under score the agency's concerns about the safety of Tesla's automated driving features.
This scrutiny comes amidst Tesla's ambitious plans to advance towards full autonomous vehicles, which has been something that they've been promising for a very long time and haven't delivered on. And despite the controversies, Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to assert the safety and superiority of Tesla's technology over traditional driving, claiming that autonomy could significantly reduce
traffic accidents. Musk's confidence in Tesla's autonomous future was reiterated during a recent earnings call. Ray stated that achieving full autonomy would be pivotal for the company's success. He encouraged investors to trust in Tesla's capability to solve autonomy, emphasizing the potential to transform all transportation. However, critics and safety experts argue that Tesla's promotional strategies and public statements often overstate the capabilities of the driving systems.
This practice, known as Auto No Washing, has been highlighted as potentially misleading consumers about the true functionality and safety of Autopilot and Full Self driving. Recent legislative attention from Senator Edward J Markey and Richard Blumenthal has further pressured regulatory bodies to enforce stricter controls on where and how Tesla's Autopilot feature should be used any to mitigate further risks to public
safety. And the ongoing debate about Tesla's technology and its regulatory scrutiny show that there's more challenges in the automotive industry's shift towards autonomous driving. It's kind of a long way away if you think about it. It has been a development for
around 10 plus years. Autonomy in vehicles at scale is a thing that hasn't happened yet, and Tesla's at the forefront of it, but they're still pretty far away, and as companies like Tesla push the boundaries of this tech, the safety during these innovations remains critical. The NHTSA is comprehensive review and its actions indicate A cautious approach towards autonomous driving technology.
Now. Ensuring that these systems do not compromise safety while advancing innovation is essential for their acceptance and success in the United States and all over the world. Now, while Tesla's Autopilot and full selfdriving technologies represent significant advancements in auto tech, the current implementation and oversight raise important safety concerns. It's crucial for Tesla to address these issues as they continue to develop and promote autonomy in all of their
vehicles. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your support. If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on right now, I'd greatly appreciate it. It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never miss an episode and each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly.
And please, if you want to support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero and please take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you tomorrow.