Telsa employees work outside a Tesla showroom in Burbank, California. Image: AFP/Robyn Beck
New York, United States — Tesla came under renewed scrutiny Thursday following a report its cars could be fooled into driving with no one behind the wheel and as two senators demanded a federal probe of a recent crash.
Engineers from Consumer Reports “easily tricked” Tesla’s Autopilot to drive without anyone in the driver’s seat, “a scenario that would present extreme danger if it were repeated on public roads,” the magazine said on its website.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ed Markey of Massachusetts urged the US auto safety regulators to forcefully respond to a fatal car crash in Texas last weekend involving a Tesla that apparently had no one behind the wheel.
“We implore you to conduct a thorough investigation of the accident and request that your reports include recommendations on corrective actions that can be implemented to prevent future such accidents from occurring,” the Senators said in a letter to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration acting chief Steven Cliff.
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The senators applauded NHTSA’s prior announcement that it, along with the National Transportation Safety Board, were investigating the crash.
The accident, which led to two fatalities, involved a Tesla Model S that caught fire after hitting a tree late Saturday night near Houston.
