In the United States, Tesla, whose CEO is Elon Musk, began testing its robotaxi service last Sunday in Austin, Texas (USA), with a limited deployment of only 10 driverless cars. The deployment of autonomous vehicles, i.e. fully intelligent transportation, has caused traffic chaos that has affected road safety and mobility.
Along the same lines, these vehicles have already suffered a number of incidents, prompting an investigation by local authorities. Read on to find out what the situation is and what problems have arisen as a result of a “great innovation”.
The request for information to Tesla due to the accidents recorded.
U.S. authorities have recently requested information to Tesla due to the incidents recorded in the first hours of its robotaxi testing service in Austin, as reported by Bloomberg, since the safety of many passengers have been exposed to road safety issues.
After the start of the test service, a multitude of videos have appeared in the different social networks showing the robotaxis of Elon Musk’s company exceeding speed limits or driving in the wrong direction, among other incidents.
Recording video footage of the problem: assessing the accidents
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is aware of these incidents captured on video and has confirmed that in the face of the reported occurrences it “is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information.”
“After evaluating these reports and other relevant information, NHTSA will take appropriate action to protect roadway safety,” the traffic administration told the same media outlet.
It should be noted that NHTSA officials regularly interact with automakers on safety matters, and it is common for those conversations to fall short of a formal investigation.
First incidents in the first few days of operation
Tesla started the expected robotaxi service with a limited number of Model Y vehicles circulating for a few hours in limited areas of the city of Austin and with a company employee sitting in the passenger seat to avoid accidents. Even so, it is already clear that this problem may increase and a solution is expected to be found as soon as possible.
A service that is only accessible to a selected group of people, many of them are influencers related to Tesla. Even so, these autonomous vehicles have made a number of mistakes on their first day.
Bad Tesla driving: a real danger posted on social media
Rob Maurer, an investor and former Tesla podcast host, has posted a 22-minute video on X in which a Model Y he was riding in enters an intersection in a dedicated left-turn lane.
The Tesla car hesitates to turn, and ends up swerving to the right, pulling into an unoccupied lane intended for oncoming traffic. After a honk is heard, the robotaxi re-enters the right lane.
But it does so over a double yellow line, which drivers must not cross. In other videos, these robotaxis can be seen driving at high speed. For example, in the video of Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor, the autonomous car exceeded 56 km/h in an area limited to 50 km/h.
In another video posted on social media, two passengers in a driverless Model Y can be seen having trouble after pressing a button on the vehicle’s rear screen to indicate that they wanted the robotaxi to stop.
No one has currently commented: the need to receive the reports.
At the moment neither Tesla nor representatives of the Austin Police Department have commented on these videos, although a spokesperson for the U.S. city told the same media outlet that they had not received any reports of safety incidents involving Tesla robotaxis over the weekend.