NHTSA probes Tesla’s autopilot tech after crashes with first-responder vehicles

Tesla has increasingly been under the microscope over the effectiveness of its self-driving technology. And now an American billionaire is running for Senate with the sole intention of getting the automaker’s Full Self Driving (FSD) beta software banned.

News of Dan O’Dowd’s bid follows a report highlighting how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched two formal defect investigations into Tesla’s Autopilot software.

O’Dowd, the California-based CEO of Green Hills Software and founder of The Dawn Project, is campaigning to “make computers safe for humanity.” And his chief target is FSD, optional tech that costs $12,000 in the U.S. and is designed to complement Tesla’s standard fit autopilot driver-assistance system. Despite the name, “Full Self Driving” does not yet deliver full autonomous driving capability.

“The first danger I am tackling is @ElonMusk’s reckless deployment of @Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Cars on our roads,” O’Dowd said In a tweet published earlier this week.

The post was accompanied by a link to his campaign website and a video that showcased several clips of FSD making errors that almost resulted in crashes, with a voiceover stating: “Often the Tesla doesn’t know what it wants to do.” The video finishes with the claim that FSD is “unsafe at any speed.”

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