Politicians Express Concern About Autopilot Features

Nov. 21, 2019
During a Commerce Committee hearing on self-driving vehicles, senators offered criticism of Tesla and Uber.

Nov. 21, 2019—Several Senators offered criticism of Tesla and Uber during a self-driving hearing on Wednesday, per a report by CNBC.

More than 80 companies are currently testing automated vehicles on the public roadways in the U.S. today. But only 16 of them have provided self-assessments that were recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and deemed voluntary by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The NTSB is urging NHTSA to put some conditions on developers who want to test, market and deploy semi- or fully-autonomous vehicles on U.S. roads.

Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass., urged Tesla to disable Autopilot until it fixes the problem that Autopilot can be cheated. For example, one Autopilot "cheat" involves affixing an orange to a Tesla steering wheel, adding weight to the wheel and thus, tricking the system into thinking hands are on the wheel.

Sen. Tom Udall. D.-N.M, suggested that NHTSA was moving too slowly to set and clarify the rules around self-driving vehicles, and warned of deadly consequences.”

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