The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating a tweet from Elon Musk indicating Tesla might allow some customers who are testing the company's "Full Self-Driving" system to disable an alert that tells them to keep their hands on the wheel.
The tweet caught the agency's eye because it is currently investigating whether Tesla's autopilot feature was involved in 11 crashes with emergency vehicles since the company started beta-testing the system in 2021. The electric vehicle maker said earlier this year that 15 percent of the 160,000 Tesla vehicles on U.S. roads are participating in the beta.
Musk has noted multiple times in the past that Tesla vehicles are not ready for fully automated driving. Tesla's website also states that both the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems require a “fully attentive driver who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment.”
Why Tesla would get rid of the alert then is unclear. As part of the broader investigation into the feature, NHTSA has asked Musk to clarify what exactly he meant in the tweet.
NHTSA previously pointed out that numerous Tesla crashes have occurred in which the driver had their hands on the wheel but was still not paying attention, even with alerts telling them to pay attention.
Musk's tweet was a reply to a fan on twitter who proposed that drivers with more than 10,000 miles on the "Full Self-Driving" mode should be able to turn off the so-called "steering wheel nag."
Musk tweeted back, “Agreed, update coming in Jan.”
Hidden inside the foundation of popular artificial intelligence image-generators are thousands of images of child sexual abuse, according to a new report that urges companies to take action to address a harmful flaw in the technology they built.
Rite Aid has been banned from using facial recognition technology for five years over allegations that a surveillance system it used incorrectly identified potential shoplifters, especially Black, Latino, Asian or female shoppers.
Tesla drivers in the U.S. were in more accidents than drivers of any other car brand this year, according to a study.
Hackers accessed Xfinity customers’ personal information by exploiting a vulnerability in software used by the company, the Comcast-owned telecommunications business announced this week.
The White House is lending its support to an auto industry effort to standardize Tesla’s electric vehicle charging plugs for all EVs in the United States.
A group representing several big tech companies is suing Utah over state laws about children's social media use.
A new study published in the journal Behavior and Information Technology reveals less time on social media makes people happier and more efficient at work.
Google has agreed to pay $700 million to settle an anti-trust settlement.
Apple announced that starting this week, it will stop selling some versions of the Apple watch in the U.S.
The European Union is investigating Elon Musk's X over alleged illicit content and disinformation on its platform. Cheddar News breaks it all down and discusses what it could mean for users.
