AP Photo/Susan WalshThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a special order to Tesla, asking Elon Musk’s car company to provide comprehensive data on a lesser-known feature called “Elon Mode” in its Autopilot systems.that the NHTSA has formally requested Tesla to share details about its “Elon Mode”—a configuration that allows drivers to bypass the standard safety prompts in Tesla’s driver assistance systems.
“NHTSA is concerned about the safety impacts of recent changes to Tesla’s driver monitoring system,” said the agency’s acting chief counsel John Donaldson. “This concern is based on available information suggesting that it may be possible for vehicle owners to change Autopilot’s driver monitoring configurations to allow the driver to operate the vehicle in Autopilot for extended periods without Autopilot prompting the driver to apply torque to the steering wheel.
Automotive safety researcher and Carnegie Mellon University associate professor Philip Koopman weighed in on the matter, stating, “It seems that NHTSA takes a dim view of cheat codes that permit disabling safety features such as driver monitoring. I agree. Hidden features that degrade safety have no place in production software.”
The NHTSA said that it is treating the investigation as an “Engineering Analysis,” which is necessary before possibly issuing a recall of cars fitted with the Autopilot feature. According to a press release, the NHTSA’s expanded probe will “explore the degree to which Autopilot and associated Tesla systems may exacerbate human factors or behavioral safety risks by undermining the effectiveness of the driver’s supervision.