ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - April 2023 - 20

Software
Tesla's FSD Recall
Impacts AV Industry
The automaker's recall of its Full Self Driving Beta leaves a significant dent
in automated driving's credibility.
by Bill Visnic
On February 16, 2023, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration announced that Tesla
had voluntarily agreed to recall 362,758 Model S,
Model X, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles - the entire
parc of Tesla models fitted with the beta version of
the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software.
The NHTSA cited FSD's failure to safely operate
Tesla vehicles in a variety of common driving situations
- while many industry sources contended
the recall was proof Tesla no longer could stay one
step ahead of the sheriff regarding its insinuations
about FSD's capabilities.
The tension about Tesla's automated-driving
features had been building. In the summer of 2021, the
NHTSA started investigating several crashes in which
Teslas operating with the Autopilot ADAS system
(standard on all models) struck parked emergency
vehicles. A subsequent NHTSA report said there were
273 Autopilot-related crashes that year.
In the wake of Tesla's agreement with NHTSA to
initiate a recall, the company created a support web
page that specifically called out FSD as a system with
SAE Level 2 driver-assist capability. " FSD Beta is an
SAE Level 2 driver support feature that can provide
steering and braking/acceleration support to the
driver under certain operating limitations, " according
to the support page.
This despite many who paid for FSD Beta seemingly
believed the system offered a higher level of automation.
Copious Internet videos of blatant misuse of
the system demonstrate that, if nothing else, Tesla
communications about FSD to customers and purchase
intenders have been cloudy.
Results released in March 2023 from a AAA survey
of 1000 adults showed them markedly more distrustful
and misunderstanding of AVs than in previous years.
In late February, a Tesla shareholder group initiated
a class-action lawsuit alleging the company deliberately
misled about FSD's capabilities and safety risks.
In an automated-driving development environment
that is consolidating and transitioning, Tesla's mixed
messages about automated driving have potential to
further destabilize public perception.
Lessons from Silicon Valley
" Tesla has been playing the " fake-it-'til-you-make-it "
card and reality is catching up to them, " Missy
Cummings, a professor of mechanical engineering,
electrical and computer engineering and computer
science at George Mason University and former senior
advisor at the NHTSA, wrote in an email to SAE Media.
There's blame to go around, according to
Apart from announcing Tesla's voluntary recall of its Full Self-Driving Beta
software, the NHTSA also is investigating a spate of crashes involving Teslas
using the company's standard Autopilot driver-assistance system.
Sam Abuelsamid, emobility principal analyst at
Guidehouse Insights and a columnist for this publication.
" NHTSA and the FTC are to blame for allowing
Tesla to get this far, " he insisted. " As soon as Tesla
20 April 2023
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ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - April 2023

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