Tesla?s Autopilot keeps causing its cars to crash

In fact, after this investigation, NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt pointed out that in 2017 his agency called on Tesla and five other carmakers to limit self-driving features and to build better technology to monitor drivers in semi-autonomous cars. Tesla is the only company that hasn’t formally responded to those recommendations, though it did start warning drivers more quickly when they take their hands off the wheel.But it seems the company is unwilling to address its self-driving technology’s shortcomings — or to ensure that its drivers properly understand what the Autopilot feature can and can’t do. “The Tesla Autopilot system did not provide an effective means of monitoring the driver’s level of engagement with the driving task, and the timing of alerts and warnings was insufficient to elicit the driver’s response to prevent the crash or mitigate its severity,” reads the report. Meanwhile, research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit that’s supported by car insurance companies, found that drivers can misunderstand the autonomous capabilities of their vehicles, including Tesla’s Autopilot.