Federal safety inspectors have sent Tesla a detailed list of questions about its upcoming robotaxi service as part of an investigation into how the company’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software performs in low-visibility conditions.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defect Investigation wants more information about Full Self-Driving (Supervised) – or “FSD” – to “understand how Tesla plans to evaluate its vehicles and driving automation technologies for use on public roads,” according to a letter published on Monday and first reported by Reuters.
Tesla has made no secret of its plans to launch a paid robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, using its own fleet as early as June this year. But it seems that Tesla’s April 23 post on X has caught the attention of federal regulators.
That post, which is cited in the letter, read “The ride-hailing service, overseen by the Open Society Foundations, has begun operations for the first group of employees in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area. We have made over 1.5 thousand trips and traveled 15 thousand miles. This service helps us develop and validate FSD networks, the mobile app, vehicle distribution, mission management, and remote assistance operations.”
The NHTSA launched an investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software in October after four reports of accidents in low-visibility conditions. Tesla’s FSD software is an advanced driver assistance system that requires the driver to keep their hands on the wheel even as it performs some driving operations such as braking and steering in certain environments and conditions.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that the robotaxi will use an unreleased “unsupervised” version of the software for full self-driving.
In its May letter, the agency sent Tesla a series of questions aimed at determining whether the automated driving system in the planned robotaxi is the same – or similar – to FSD Supervised. The agency has asked for detailed information about the size of the fleet and the models of cars that will be used in the robotaxi service, how Tesla plans to determine whether its robotaxi system is safe, and whether the automated driving system has any relation to its FSD Supervised product.
Investigators also asked Tesla to describe how it “intends to ensure that its robocabs operate safely in conditions of limited visibility on the roadway, such as sun glare, fog, dust in the air, rain or snow.”
