San Francisco: Elon Musk-run Tesla has paused the rollout of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software in the US and Canada until a firmware update can be issued to address a safety recall.
“Tesla has issued a voluntary recall on certain Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y vehicles that have installed or are pending installation of software that contains the Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta feature. This recall affects only US and CA vehicles,” Tesla wrote on the support page.
“Until the software version containing the fix is available, we have paused the rollout of FSD Beta to all who have opted-in but have not yet received a software version containing FSD Beta,” it added.
Earlier this month, Tesla announced to update Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta over “crash risks” in nearly 3,63,000 vehicles.
However, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has “recalled” several Tesla models — including Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y series that have installed or were pending installation of a software release that contains the FSD Beta.
Musk earlier tweeted about his disdain for the word “recall,” saying Tesla is not recalling any cars.
“The word ‘recall’ for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just flat wrong,” he posted.
NHTSA has been investigating Tesla’s driver-assist technology for several years.
FSD Beta is a driver support feature that can provide steering and braking/acceleration support to the driver under certain operating limitations.
With FSD Beta, the driver is responsible for the operation of the vehicle whenever the feature is engaged and must constantly supervise the feature and intervene (steer, brake or accelerate) as needed to maintain the safe operation of the vehicle.
The journey in a self-driving Nissan across Woolwich in south-east London begins smoothly enough: fitted with cameras and sensors, the electric car confidently handles pedestrian crossings, vans cutting into its lane without warning and even scurrying jaywalkers.
Then comes an unexpected obstacle: a football-sized rock, fallen from the back of a lorry on to the middle of the road. The specially trained safety driver hastily grabs the steering wheel, taking back control to avoid a nasty crunch.
It is hardly a major incident – and it is the only human intervention during five miles of navigating busy traffic in a demonstration of the ServCity research programme being carried out by the carmaker and partners in London. Nevertheless, it highlights the difficulties facing autonomous driving technology before it can become mainstream – particularly on Britain’s busy and often chaotic urban roads.
“It’s a long-term journey we’re on,” says Matthew Ewing, Nissan’s vice-president for vehicle engineering in Europe.
A Nissan Leaf is driven on public roads in Woolwich, south-east London, during a trial of self-driving cars. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Hands-free driving is still banned in the UK, although the government last summer pledged to allow the first self-driving cars on British roads by 2025. Carmakers are racing to develop the technology to be able to launch driverless taxis and eventually personal vehicles that can travel anywhere without human input.
Every large automotive company is looking ahead to autonomous cars, while startups such as the Alphabet-owned Waymo and the General Motors-owned Cruise have also invested heavily. Cruise has driven paying customers in driverless “robotaxis” in San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin in the US. In London, autonomous car trials have been carried out by the startups Oxbotica, Wayve and the Academy of Robotics.
The ServCity project, which has received £7m from the UK government and is drawing to an end next month, is looking at ways to improve performance in cities in particular. The project has driven 1,600 miles on a 2.7-mile route around Woolwich with 270 cameras plus other sensors. They allow the team to collect data, but also to experiment with features such as giving the car advanced warning of obstacles including parked buses blocking the lane ahead – even when well beyond the line of sight.
Just a few of the cameras and sensors of the ServCity car. Photograph: Nissan Motor
A Nissan car has already demonstrated what is possible in the UK. Two years ago a Leaf drove 230 miles using autonomous technology from the company’s technical centre in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, to its manufacturing plant in Sunderland, where the model is made. Most of that journey on predictable motorways was handled by computer, but safety drivers still had to intervene a few times. Taking the next step to full autonomy is proving tricky.
“We probably have 80% of the capability, but that last 20% is going to take some time,” Ewing says.
Nissan and its rivals have for 20 years been gradually adding autonomous capabilities such as maintaining a safe distance from the car in front on motorways and lane-keeping. However, the transition from those level 1 or 2 driver assistance systems to level 3 – when the car is fully in control for at least some of the time – can be very difficult.
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London is also a particularly testing environment – at least when compared with the broad boulevards of the US or the orderly traffic of Yokohoma, Japan, where Nissan is headquartered.
The nerve centre of the ServCity project. Photograph: Nissan Motor
Self-driving capabilities are split by the standards body SAE into six levels: 0 for no autonomy, and level 5 for full automation (where you could fall asleep and wake up at your destination). The cutting edge at the moment is nudging level 3: cars that are capable of driving themselves, but which could ask the driver to intervene at any point.
Even Tesla, whose chief executive, Elon Musk, has promised robotaxis for years, still says that its “full self-driving” software is only able to provide “active guidance and assisted driving under your active supervision”. The carmaker has faced criticism for its claims of “full self-driving” – including in an advert from a wealthy critic at this year’s Super Bowl – and an investigation by the US justice department.
Ewing says the UK is still in a “good position” relative to other countries – although it needs to keep up with the EU as the technology becomes closer to mainstream adoption, and more of the features are used in cars for sale.
“My feeling is it will be a gradual, step-by-step process,” he says. “It’ll become more and more normal feeling.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Tesla said it would recall 362,000 US vehicles to update its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software after regulators said on Thursday the driver assistance system did not adequately adhere to traffic safety laws and could cause crashes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the Tesla software allows a vehicle to “exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner increases the risk of a crash”.
Tesla will release an over-the-air (OTA) software update free of charge, and the electric vehicle maker said is not aware of any injuries or deaths that may be related to the recall issue. The automaker said it had 18 warranty claims.
Tesla shares were down 1.6% at $210.76 on Thursday afternoon.
The recall covers 2016-2023 Model S, Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with FSD Beta software or pending installation.
NHTSA asked Tesla to recall the vehicles, but the company said despite the recall it did not concur in NHTSA’s analysis. The move is a rare intervention by federal regulators in a real-world testing program that the company sees as crucial to the development of cars that can drive themselves. FSD Beta is used by hundreds of thousands of Tesla customers.
The setback for Tesla’s automated driving effort comes about two weeks before the company’s March 1 investor day, during which Chief Executive Elon Musk is expected to promote the EV maker’s artificial intelligence capability and plans to expand its vehicle lineup.
Tesla could not immediately be reached for comment.
NHTSA has an ongoing investigation it opened in 2021 into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with driver assistance system Autopilot over a string of crashes with parked emergency vehicles. NHTSA is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure drivers are paying attention. NHTSA said on Thursday despite the FSD recall its “investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot and associated vehicle systems remains open and active.”
Tesla said in “certain rare circumstances … the feature could potentially infringe upon local traffic laws or customs while executing certain driving maneuvers”.
Possible situations where the problem could occur include traveling or turning through certain intersections during a yellow traffic light and making a lane change out of certain turn-only lanes to continue traveling straight, NHTSA said.
NHTSA said “the system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver’s adjustment of the vehicle’s speed to exceed posted speed limits.”
Last year, Tesla recalled nearly 54,000 US vehicles with FSD Beta software that may allow some models to conduct “rolling stops” and not come to a complete stop at some intersections, posing a safety risk, NHTSA said.
Tesla and NHTSA say FSD’s advanced driving features do not make the cars autonomous and require drivers to pay attention.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
