Regulators leading the Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) autopilot investigation, which opened in August 2021, are working “really fast” to resolve the issue, according to a Reuters news story.
The acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ann Carlson, said yesterday at an event in Washington "we're investing a lot of resources," Reuters reported
But she declined to commit to a particular timeframe on when the probe will be resolved, the newswire noted.
"The resources require a lot of technical expertise, actually some legal novelty and so we're moving as quickly as we can, but we also want to be careful and make sure we have all the information we need," Carlson was reported as saying.
In June, NHTSA upgraded to an engineering analysis its defect probe into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with driver assistance system Autopilot and involved in crashes with parked emergency vehicles.
That step was necessary before the agency could demand a recall.
NHTSA is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure drivers are paying attention.
Reuters also said Carlson confirmed that the agency was in discussions with Tesla about a tweet from chief executive Elon Musk on December 31 which suggested drivers with more than 10,000 miles using Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" software system should be able to disable the "steering wheel nag," an alert that instructs drivers to hold the wheel to confirm they are paying attention.
Musk responded by tweeting: "Agreed, update coming in Jan." Carlson said the agency “are in conversations with Tesla about this latest communication," Reuters reported.