The National Transportation Safety Board commented that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration exploded for its permissible regulation of driver assistance systems. The letter is dated February 1, but will only be noticed by CNBC’s Lora Kolodny on Friday. In the letter, Tesla’s Autopilot is repeatedly called for its lax safety practices and calls on NHTSA to set minimum standards for the industry.
The dispute between federal agencies is due to the division of responsibility for transportation safety among multiple agencies. NHTSA is the main regulator for highway safety: every car and light truck must comply with the rules set by NHTSA. NTSB is a separate agency that only conducts security investigations. When a high-profile highway accident occurs, NTSB investigators travel to the scene to find out what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. NTSB also does plane crashes and train wrecks, making it possible to apply lessons from one mode of transport to another.
This separation of responsibilities has contributed to a cultural gap between the agencies. As the agency is responsible for drafting regulations, NHTSA must exchange safety against other considerations such as economic costs, the influence of car manufacturers and the risk of consumer setbacks. In contrast, the NTSB’s rulings are purely advisory, releasing the agency to strongly advocate strong security measures.
Under then-President Donald Trump, NHTSA largely made automakers do what they wanted when it came to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and prototype driverless vehicles. NHTSA generally waited until security issues arose at the ADAS system and dealt with it after the time. NTSB argues NHTSA needs to be more proactive, and that puts Tesla and Autopilot at the center of its argument.
NTSB believes the minimum ADAS safety standards are in arrears
NTSB believes NHTSA was too slow to develop safety standards for driver assistance systems and too slow to oblige their use in every vehicle. A growing number of cars have automatic emergency braking systems, but these systems are not yet mandatory, and different AEB systems have different capabilities.
“It is important that the agency prioritises the development of minimum performance standards for collision avoidance technologies and requires the systems as standard equipment in all new vehicles,” the NTSB wrote.
The NTSB also calls for NHTSA to require driver monitoring systems to ensure drivers are on the road while driver assistance systems are active.
“Because driver attention is an integral part of lower-level automation systems, a driver monitoring system must be able to determine whether and to what extent the manager fulfills the role of automation supervisor,” NTSB argued. “No minimum performance standards exist for the appropriate timing of alerts, the type of alert or the use of redundant monitor sensors to ensure driver engagement.”
Many on-road driver assistance systems today use torque sensors as a crude way to see if drivers have their hands on the steering wheel. Recently, some manufacturers have used eye-catching cameras to monitor the driver’s attention. This is a more efficient way to make sure users are actually looking at the road – although some drivers may find it intrusive or annoying.
Finally, NTSB argues that NHTSA should require car manufacturers to limit the use of driver assistance systems to the type of roads for which they are designed. For example, some ADAS systems are designed to work only on restricted highways. Yet there are few cars that enforce such restrictions. Many systems can be activated on roads for which the systems are not designed.
NTSB always singles out Tesla
The NTSB mentions Tesla 16 times in the report – far more than any other carmaker. This is partly because Tesla vehicles figure so prominently in the NTSB’s work. NTSB says it investigated six accidents involving driver or self-driving systems between May 2016 and March 2019. Four of them were fatal. One of these four was the death of Elaine Herzberg in 2018 after she was hit by an Uber self-driving prototype. The other three were Tesla owners who relied too much on Autopilot and it cost their lives.
In one section, NTSB points to the death of Tesla owner Josh Brown in 2016. The Autopilot software on Brown’s car could not recognize a cross in front of the trailer in front of the vehicle. Brown’s Model S slipped under the trailer, slid off the top of the car and killed Brown immediately.
In its report on the crash, NTSB noted that at the time of the crash, Autopilot software was only designed for controlled access highways – not rural highways where cars and trucks could enter the highway from the ramps and side streets. NTSB pointed out that its report on the Brown crash ‘recommends that NHTSA develop a method of verifying’ that companies selling driver assistance systems such as Autopilot have precautions to prevent customers from using the systems on roads for which they are not designed . Such a system would possibly have prevented Brown from activating Autopilot on the day of his death.
NHTSA did not follow the proposal of the NTSB. In its February letter, NTSB makes NHTSA not forget this: NTSB suggests that this policy choice may have led to another fatal crash.
“In March 2019, another fatal crash occurred in Delray Beach, Florida, under circumstances very similar to Brown’s death, due to Tesla’s lack of appropriate warranties and NHTSA’s inaction,” the agency wrote. And NTSB is worried that lax rules could lead to more deaths in the future.
“The NTSB remains concerned about the continuing failure of NHTSA to ensure the importance of ensuring that precautionary measures exist so that the vehicles do not function outside their industry design domains and beyond the capabilities of their system designs,” the agency wrote. “Because NHTSA does not set any requirements, manufacturers can drive and test vehicles virtually anywhere, even if the limitations exceed the AV control system.”
NTSB then called Tesla again and criticized the decision to introduce its ‘complete self-driving beta’ software to a few dozen customers.
“Tesla recently released a beta version of its Level 2 autopilot system, which is described as a complete self-driving capability,” NTSB wrote. “By releasing the system, Tesla is testing a highly automated AV technology on public roads, but with limited surveillance and reporting requirements.”
Since the NTSB letter, Elon Musk has announced plans to expand the FSD beta to more customers.
The NTSB letter comes at an important time – just as President Joe Biden was filling senior positions at NHTSA and the wider Department of Transportation. Under Donald Trump, NHTSA has taken a strong practical stance toward regulating driver assistance systems and self-governing technology. It seems likely that the Biden team will do more in this area, but it remains to be seen how aggressive they will be.