Buttigieg defends safety agency appointment after Musk claims ‘bias’

Elon Musk voiced concerns on Twitter over the recent appointment of Missy Cummings to a key advisory role at the country’s top traffic authority, but U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested the Tesla CEO speak to him directly about any concerns instead. “He’s welcome to call me if he’s concerned,” Buttigieg told reporters at an […]

NHTSA rejects petition for formal investigation into Tesla’s battery management software

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration rejected a 2019 petition requesting the agency open a formal investigation into Tesla’s battery management software over allegations that an over-the-air update was defective and caused fires in five vehicles. The agency decided not to open a formal investigation in part because the majority of those incidents occurred […]

U.S. safety regulator opens investigation into Tesla Autopilot following crashes with parked emergency vehicles

U.S. auto regulators have opened a preliminary investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot advanced driver assistance system, citing 11 incidents in which vehicles crashed into parked first responder vehicles while the system was engaged. The Tesla vehicles involved in the collisions were confirmed to have either have had Autopilot or a feature called Traffic Aware Cruise Control […]

Drunk-driving provision could fuel demand for driver monitoring technology

Companies developing driver detection technology could get a boost from a provision tucked inside the 2,702-page $1 trillion infrastructure bill that would require automakers to build into new cars technology that can tell if drivers have had a few cold ones. The provision in the bill, which is actually a piece of bipartisan legislation called […]