Accordingly, on January 7, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it had opened an investigation into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles based on accident reports related to the company's feature that allows users to remotely control cars.
The new investigation comes after the US auto safety agency opened an investigation in October 2024 into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles using Full Self-Driving (FSD) software after four crashes, including one fatality, in 2023.
NHTSA said it is conducting a preliminary review of Tesla's Actually Smart Summon (ASS) feature after receiving reports of four crashes involving Tesla vehicles. ASS is a feature that allows cars to park themselves, pick up the driver and move to other locations using controls on the Tesla smartphone app.
Tesla cars reportedly failed to detect landmarks or parked cars when using the ASS feature. The agency also said it had received reports of drivers having too little time to react to avoid a collision, causing the car to stop despite having good visibility while driving or not using the control feature via a phone app.
In fact, the ASS feature was launched last September and allows users to remotely control their vehicle to another location using a smartphone app. The previous version of the feature allowed users to move the car forward or backward, or into or out of a parking space.
NHTSA is currently conducting a preliminary review of the feature and will then decide whether to conduct a more thorough engineering analysis before a recall can be ordered.
The agency also said it would evaluate the maximum speed achieved by the ASS feature when the vehicle is used on public roads and with respect to line-of-sight requirements. The investigation will also cover issues related to remote control of the vehicle via a phone app, the impact of connection delays and the system’s performance under unforeseen conditions.
Elon Musk's Tesla has yet to respond to the NHTSA's information. In December 2023, Tesla recalled more than 2 million vehicles in the US to install new safeguards in its advanced driver assistance system Autopilot.
NHTSA is still investigating whether the recall was sufficient to address concerns that drivers didn’t notice. The increased scrutiny of advanced driver assistance systems comes as Musk looks to pivot toward self-driving technology and robotaxis.
