The group is advocating for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software to be removed from the roadways until it’s fully tested and passes extensive safety protocols.
The Justice Department’s just revealed probe into Tesla’s controversial driver-assist features is long overdue, but it could present the best hope yet for banning this defective and dangerous software that’s been linked to scores of crashes and fatalities, according to the safety advocacy group The Dawn Project.
The DOJ investigation, formally disclosed by Tesla yesterday in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has been rumored for months and is reported to be criminal in nature.
“For more than a year, we have been documenting the serious failures of Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software, warning the public about their dangers, and urging government policymakers and regulators to act quickly and decisively to get it off the public roads,” says Dawn Project Founder and safety-critical software CEO Dan O’Dowd.
“Multiple investigations by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration have been going on for years, with no result, putting us all at risk,” he says. “This software is in hundreds of thousands of vehicles on our roads. America’s motorists and pedestrians did not sign up to serve as crash-test dummies for Tesla.”
A new law in California – home to more Tesla cars than any other state – bans Tesla from using the Full Self-Driving name for its driver-assist feature and advertising its vehicles as fully self driving. Action at the federal level is essential to extending that kind of protection throughout the nation and should be a top priority, in The Dawn Project’s view.
The group is advocating for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software to be removed from the roadways until it’s fully tested and passes extensive safety protocols.
The Dawn Project’s own testing of Tesla’s software revealed critical safety defects, allowing Teslas equipped with the software to:
- Run down a child mannequin in a crosswalk
- Hit a child mannequin in a stroller
- Overtake stopped school buses unloading passengers
- Speed in school zones
- Ignore “Do Not Enter” and “Road Closed” signs
- Fail to stay in its lane and swerve into oncoming traffic
A full summary of that testing, along with videos is available at https://dawnproject.com/critical-safety-issues-revealed-by-the-dawn-projects-testing-of-tesla-full-self-driving/.
About Dan O’Dowd: CEO of Green Hills Software, Dan is an engineer, entrepreneur, CEO, and expert in safety-critical software and cyber security. He has over 40 years of experience designing and writing the operating systems for hundreds of the world’s most safety-critical computer systems. In 2021, Dan founded The Dawn Project, with the mission of ensuring all software in safety-critical infrastructure is secure and reliable. Now the Dawn Project is leading a campaign for a safer country by calling out Tesla’s’ Full Self-Driving cars.
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