Photo: Tesla
On September 9, we told you that the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA, Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority) ordered Tesla to fix “abnormalities” in Autopilot’s software. WirtschaftsWoche revealed that but did not disclose what KBA asked Tesla to change. We asked the German market surveillance authority about that and just got the answer from it. Interestingly, it shows once again that Europe will not approve anything based on what Tesla claims.
In the U.S., the company tells authorities that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) are Level 2 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). That is how Tesla managed to put its own customers to “test” FSD on public roads without having to apply for special authorizations to do so. American lawmakers demand that procedure for autonomous vehicles.
To customers, Tesla has said more than once that “the car drives itself” and promised full autonomy is just around the corner. Tesla investors brag about drives with fewer interventions to prove FSD is close to Level 4. That is called autonowashing, and safety experts have warned more than once that it causes overreliance on Tesla’s ADAS.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) warned this was a critical factor in some fatal crashes involving the software in the U.S. Jennifer Homendy, NTSB’s chair, said that Tesla “has clearly misled numerous people to misuse and abuse technology.”
According to KBA, Navigate on Autopilot has two functions that allow it to enter or leave motorways without driver authorization. That represents a level of autonomy that “exceeds the scope of the approval.” The German safety regulator refers to the European type-approval system I discussed when I warned about the need for traffic safety organizations and government entities to develop coding skills to deal with “computers on wheels.”
KBA said Navigate on Autopilot received type approval from Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW), KBA’s Dutch equivalent. The permission was for “automatic steering functions in accordance with the international UN Regulation R 79, which enables automated driving operations.” More precisely, it should “only supports the driver in the driving function,” who “retains full control.”
The German market surveillance authority understood that “the functions applied went beyond this and would have to be assigned to a higher degree of automation than that of assisted driving, which the RDW has not yet approved for the vehicles. Both functions had to be corrected.”
WirtschaftsWoche suggested that Tesla still had some other things to fix about Autopilot. We asked KBA about that and will update this article as soon as we hear from them.
To customers, Tesla has said more than once that “the car drives itself” and promised full autonomy is just around the corner. Tesla investors brag about drives with fewer interventions to prove FSD is close to Level 4. That is called autonowashing, and safety experts have warned more than once that it causes overreliance on Tesla’s ADAS.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) warned this was a critical factor in some fatal crashes involving the software in the U.S. Jennifer Homendy, NTSB’s chair, said that Tesla “has clearly misled numerous people to misuse and abuse technology.”
According to KBA, Navigate on Autopilot has two functions that allow it to enter or leave motorways without driver authorization. That represents a level of autonomy that “exceeds the scope of the approval.” The German safety regulator refers to the European type-approval system I discussed when I warned about the need for traffic safety organizations and government entities to develop coding skills to deal with “computers on wheels.”
KBA said Navigate on Autopilot received type approval from Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW), KBA’s Dutch equivalent. The permission was for “automatic steering functions in accordance with the international UN Regulation R 79, which enables automated driving operations.” More precisely, it should “only supports the driver in the driving function,” who “retains full control.”
The German market surveillance authority understood that “the functions applied went beyond this and would have to be assigned to a higher degree of automation than that of assisted driving, which the RDW has not yet approved for the vehicles. Both functions had to be corrected.”
WirtschaftsWoche suggested that Tesla still had some other things to fix about Autopilot. We asked KBA about that and will update this article as soon as we hear from them.
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