- Tesla’s Robotaxi launch event in Austin on Sunday got rave reviews from analysts, but also led to several attendees posting videos of Tesla vehicles behaving unexpectedly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reached out a day later, and said it “will take any necessary actions to protect road safety.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) contacted Tesla a day after its Sunday Robotaxi launch after videos online showed the company’s autonomous vehicles acting erratically and possibly violating traffic laws.
The launch, which was mostly limited to invited Tesla investors, analysts, and influencers, gave the public its first look at Tesla’s Robotaxi technology, which is an “unsupervised” version of its already available Full Self-Driving (supervised) tech.
Tesla first revealed the company’s Cybercab and larger Robovan in a splashy event at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, Calif., last October. But Sunday’s launch in Austin was the biggest development in nearly a year (and arguably a decade) of Tesla CEO Elon Musk touting Tesla’s Robotaxi ambitions, reportedly despite internal warnings claiming the Cybercab may never be profitable.
The event garnered rave reviews by some Tesla analysts, including Wedbush’s Dan Ives.
“Going into it, we expected to be impressed, but walking away from it, all there is to say is that this is the future,” he wrote in a note.
Still, videos taken by attendees Sunday showed Tesla’s vehicles driving erratically and in some cases violating traffic laws and safe traffic practices, despite the presence of a “safety monitor” in the front seat.
In one video taken by Tesla investor Rob Maurer, the vehicle he is traveling in hesitates at an intersection and enters a lane meant for cars traveling in the opposite direction. The car then appears to break traffic laws by crossing a double solid yellow line before entering a left turn lane. A honk can be heard in the video.
In another video posted to YouTube by Ed Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, one of the Robotaxis “brakes hard” after passing stopped police vehicles that weren’t in its immediate path.
“The fact that it came nearly to a stop twice on public roads is downright unsafe,” wrote Niedermeyer in the video description.
These incidents, along with others posted to social media, led the NHTSA to reach out to Tesla Monday, the federal agency confirmed.
“NHTSA is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information. NHTSA will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment, in accordance with the Vehicle Safety Act and our data-driven, risk-based investigative process,” the agency wrote in a statement to Fortune.
The agency clarified that it does not “preapprove new technologies or vehicle systems,” but rather certifies that vehicles meet its safety standards and follows up on possible safety defect incidents.
“Following an assessment of those reports and other relevant information, NHTSA will take any necessary actions to protect road safety,” the agency wrote.
The NHTSA has a separate existing investigation open into crashes involving Tesla vehicles using Full Self-Driving (supervised) technology.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment. Tesla has not responded publicly to the Sunday incidents, but prior to the launch, Tesla responded to NHTSA’s questions about its Robotaxi program, reported electric transportation and sustainable energy outlet Electrek. The company has reportedly asked the NHTSA to keep its responses confidential, according to the outlet.
The NHTSA’s most recent outreach to Tesla does not mean it has opened an investigation, said Jason Turchin, a Florida-based product liability lawyer who has previously worked on vehicle cases. Still, the company should be on alert following the incidents. If the issue escalates further, Turchin said, the NHTSA has broad authority to enforce a recall or impose fines on the company.
“What it sounds like is that they’re in the phase right now, of like, ‘We’re watching you. We’re aware of this potential, and we need reassurance that this is not the case,’” he told Fortune.
Turchin said he hopes the NHTSA and federal government take advantage of the recent Tesla incidents as well as the general increase in self-driving vehicles to craft regulations that deal with their production and use.
Still, Craig Melrose, a former vehicle production engineer at Toyota and now global managing partner of advanced technologies and mobility at HTEC, a provider of AI & embedded product engineering services, said the NHTSA outreach to Tesla may be a positive development.
“Regulatory agencies like NHTSA exist to ensure standardization and the adoption of best practices across the industry, so their involvement can be a positive signal, especially if this is simply a proactive review,” Melrose told Fortune.
