How serious is Tesla's Autopilot safety problem? According to thousands of complaints supposedly from Tesla customers in the US and around the world, pretty bad.
A huge data dump based on a whistleblower's leak of internal Tesla documents shows that problems with Tesla's automated driving technology may be much more common than media reports and regulators have let on. , according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt, which published an article about it on Thursday.
The supposedly leaked files add to the disturbing anecdotes that have appeared in the media and on social networks over the years about Tesla's Autopilot and the experimental technology it has labeled as fully autonomous driving. They highlight Tesla's attempts to keep safety complaints secret and what appears to be a strategy to limit communications with customers that could end in lawsuits.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not respond to a request for comment from the Times.
Below are four of the biggest takeaways from the leak article.
1. The files include thousands of complaints and failure descriptions supposedly from customers.
In an article titled “'My Autopilot Almost Killed Me,'” Handelsblatt said he received 100 gigabytes of data and 23,000 files, including 3,000 entries about customer safety concerns and descriptions of more than 1,000 accidents. The complaints cover Teslas manufactured from 2015 to March 2022, according to the article. The files contain more than 2,400 complaints about sudden accelerations and more than 1,500 complaints about braking problems, including involuntary emergency braking and so-called “phantom stops,” when the car brakes suddenly for no apparent reason, according to the article.
The English version of Handelsblatt's story was transmitted via Google Translate.
(Handelsblatt)
Customers' phone numbers were included in the files, according to the article. Handelsblatt said he contacted dozens of customers, who confirmed the complaints were legitimate. A Michigan man reported that his Tesla “suddenly braked hard, as hard as you can imagine. They fastened my seat belt and the car almost stopped. Then another car hit me from behind.”
Beyond verifying complaints with customers, Handelsblatt showed the files to the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology, which concluded that there is no reason to believe that “the data set does not come from IT systems belonging to or located in the Tesla environment”.
2. Tesla systematically avoids communicating with customers in writing.
The files contain, according to Handelsblatt, “precise guidelines” for communication with clients. Employees are instructed that, unless attorneys are involved, they should not submit written versions of their reviews, but rather convey them “VERBALLY to the client.”
“Do not copy and paste the report below into an email, text message, or leave it in a voicemail to the client,” the guidelines say, according to the article.
“They never sent emails, everything was always verbal,” the article quotes a California doctor, who said his Tesla accelerated on its own in the fall of 2021 and crashed into two concrete pillars.
Some customers received written responses, including one who complained about phantom braking and was told that the Autopilot system was behaving “absolutely normal” and that he should re-read the manual, according to the article.
Tesla has a long history of trying to cover up customer complaints about safety issues. Back in 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had to announce that customers were allowed to post safety issues after reports that Tesla required customers to sign confidentiality agreements to qualify for warranty repairs on systems. Model S's problematic suspension suspension.
3. Tesla threatened legal action over the leak.
When asked about the leak and security concerns, Handelsblatt says, Tesla lawyers demanded that the news organization send the company a copy of the data and delete all other copies, and said Tesla planned to take legal action. “for the theft of confidential and personal information.” data.”
4. These are the data that could force regulators to step up.
The alleged files will likely play a role in existing wrongful death lawsuits against Tesla, alleging fundamental safety problems with its technology, and could prompt state and federal regulators to finally take action.
In 2021, NHTSA dismissed similar customer complaints about unintended acceleration and placed the blame on “driver error.”
Several of the US safety regulator's investigations into Tesla have continued for years, including an investigation into an apparent tendency of Tesla cars to crash into fire trucks, ambulances and police cars parked on roads with their lights on.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles is investigating whether the naming of Tesla's $15,000 fully self-driving option violates state law and its own regulations against marketing vehicles as autonomous when they are not. The DMV will not say why that investigation has been unresolved for more than two years.
In China, regulators are already taking action. Just two weeks ago, Tesla was forced to release an urgent software update to nearly every vehicle it sold in China to fix unintentional sudden acceleration issues.
Musk has promised fully autonomous driving since 2016, but has yet to deliver.
The Handelsblatt article is available through a paywall, with an English translation via Google Translate.
