(Credit: Tesla)
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Tesla's partially automated Full Self-Driving (FSD) system amid complaints of road safety violations.
In its notice published earlier this week, the NHTSA says it will examine versions of FSD labeled as FSD (Supervised) and FSD (Beta), which are active on about 2.9 million Teslas.
At issue are two dangerous behaviors: running red lights and ignoring lane markings.
In the first scenario, FSD-enabled cars have run red lights or come to a stop and then continued before the light turns green. In some cases, the system also failed to detect and display the correct traffic signal state in the vehicle interface or provide any warnings.
The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has logged 18 complaints and one media report about the red-light issue. It had six reports of crashes, four of which have caused injuries.
On the second point, FSD cars drive into the wrong lanes when they're unable to accurately assess lane markings. That includes crossing double-yellow lane markings or attempting to turn onto a road in the wrong direction despite the presence of wrong-way road signs.
The ODI has received two reports from Tesla, 18 complaints, and two media reports of FSD-equipped cars entering the wrong lane. It's received four reports from Tesla, six complaints, and one media report about the vehicles ignoring lane markings.
NHTSA's review will now check whether the FSD system offers "adequate time for the driver to respond to the unexpected behavior or to safely supervise the automated driving task." It will also check the system's ability to detect, display, and respond to traffic signals and determine whether recent updates and modifications are causing these issues.
FSD is currently a Level 2 system, meaning the driver still needs to be alert and intervene when necessary. As such, the robotaxi service running in Austin and San Francisco currently has safety drivers in the vehicle. And it's already caught the attention of regulators.
A similar probe was initiated around the same time last year, following reports that the FSD was causing collisions in low-visibility conditions.