Tesla Autopilot Was Uniquely Risky—and May Still Be

In an investigative report into crashes and deaths associated with Tesla Autopilot, federal regulators concluded that the system lacked standard protections.

A federal report published today found that Tesla’s Autopilot system was involved in at least 13 fatal crashes in which drivers misused the system in ways the automaker should have foreseen—and done more to prevent. Not only that, but the report called out Tesla as an “industry outlier” because its driver assistance features lacked some of the basic precautions taken by its competitors. Now regulators are questioning whether a Tesla Autopilot update designed to fix these basic design issues and prevent fatal incidents has gone far enough.