Tesla Recall: It is official, Tesla Autopilot is defective!

It would seem that Elon Musk’s promise of a fully Autonomous car has gone even further off-course as Tesla announced a recall of over two million of its cars after a National Highway Traffic Safety  Administration (NHSTA) investigation in Americaland found the driver assistance program is partially defective.

The news comes after a two-year investigation into crashes that occurred after the tech was in use, at least some of which were fatal. Interestingly the news comes just one week after the BBC carried a report from a whistle blower who claimed that the software was not safe.

The recall involves just about every single Tesla sold in the US of A since Autopilot was included as a standard item in 2015. 

Along with the recall, Tesla will also be rolling out an “over-the-air software remedy” to fix the issues brought up by the NHSTA.

Teslas autopilot is meant to help with the steering, acceleration and braking but only when the ‘driver’ is paying attention. The Software is supposed to ensure that the driver is still in charge of the vehicle and paying attention. In most countries, the autopilot is only supposed to be used on Highways.

The NHTSA investigation said that after a two-year investigation of almost 1,000 Tesla crashes, the software safety features may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse. 

The NHSTA said that autopilot software holds great promise for the future when used responsibly and would continue to monitor the Tesla performance after the update.

According to The Associated Press, Tesla do not agree with the results of the NHTSA conclusion from the investigation but have said they will accept it and recall all vehicles in hopes of resolving any issues. 

If you have problems sleeping, you can read the NHTSA recall document here, I must warn you it is not light reading.