Tesla recalls 362,000 cars after regulator said 'Full Self Driving' increases crash risk
And dozens of employees fired after attempting to form a union
Hundreds of thousands of Teslas are being “recalled” in America after the country’s vehicle safety regulator said the firm’s semi-autonomous systems increased the risk of a crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was conducting an investigation into the safety of Tesla’s “Autopilot” technology following a number of high profile accidents.
The investigation was opened in June 2022 after a mounting number of crashes in which Teslas in Autopilot mode smashed into emergency service vehicles, parked either in the road or roadside, while first responders attended to pre-existing collisions.
NHTSA concluded that Tesla’s Full Self Driving Beta system, which is an evolution of Autopilot, “may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as travelling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution.”
Two dead in Tesla crash linked to Autopilot semi-autonomous system
The agency added that “the system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver’s adjustment of the vehicle’s speed to exceed posted speed limits.”
Cars affected by the recall are those equipped with or pending installation of the FSD Beta software and include Model S saloons built between 2016 and 2023, Model 3 saloons built between 2017 and 2023, Model X SUVs built between 2016 and 2023, and Model Y SUVs built between 2020 and 2023.
The remedy, according to NHTSA, will be an over-the-air (OTA) software update that will be deployed over the coming weeks, which will “improve how FSD Beta negotiates certain driving manoeuvres” during the situations identified by the NHTSA.
It is unclear whether the recall affects Tesla in the UK. Full Self Driving is a feature that can be added to UK models during purchase, however UK law still does not allow autonomous vehicles on the road unless they are part of an approved trial.
All semi-autonomous systems in the UK, no matter the manufacturer, still require drivers to have their hands on the wheels and be in control of the vehicle at all times. As a result, FSD in the UK should not allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel for extended periods, as is allowed in some parts of America.
Tesla said it was not aware of any injuries or deaths that may be related to the recall issue.
Tesla owner filmed in passenger seat using Autopilot says he was “unlucky one who got caught”
Earlier this year Tesla announced that it was scrapping ultrasonic sensors for use with its semi-autonomous systems, in favour of eight video cameras that give the cars a 360-degree view around the vehicle. Critics of camera-based driver assistance systems say that they become next-to-useless after dark or when dirty.
Tesla scraps ultrasonic sensors, new models to rely on cameras for autonomy
Tesla said it aimed to use the data gathered from cars equipped with the FSD Beta system to help its camera-fed software “learn” and improve.
Dozens of staff fired for attempting to form union
In separate news, Tesla has fired dozens of employees who were linked to plans for unionising the workforce, reports Shane O’Donoghue.
The employees at the factory in Buffalo, New York, are believed to have been sacked after it was confirmed with upper management that they were attempting to form a union, according to Bloomberg.
The move came 24 hours after the 25-strong organising committee sent notification of the unionising move to CEO Elon Musk.
American labour union Workers United had been in talks with Tesla staff about forming a union, and it has accused the company of ‘retaliation’ to discourage union activity.
US federal law states that companies are prohibited from taking retaliatory measures against staff that take collective action for their rights, including unionising.
Workers United has filed with the US National Labor Relations Board in connection with the terminations, seeking to “prevent irreparable destruction of employee rights resulting from Tesla’s unlawful conduct”.
If Tesla is taken to court and found guilty of retaliatory measures, then it could be forced to reinstate the workers’ employment with full backpay, although the NLRB doesn’t have the power to force companies to pay damages.
According to Workers United, several of the employees that had been made redundant participated in the union discussions, including one that was part of the organising committee. The staff affected all worked at Tesla’s Autopilot division and were involved in labelling data for the firm’s driver assistance system.
Jaz Brisack from Workers United claimed that the move was “a form of collective retaliation against the group of workers that started this organising effort,” and “designed to terrify everyone about potential consequences of them organising, as well as to attempt to cull the herd.”
Staff at Tesla Buffalo want to unionise to help improve job security and for increased pay, while they also want a say in the decisions that are made that affect their workplace.
According to reports, Tesla monitors its staff via keystrokes and how long they spend on tasks each day to see how much they are actually working. Employees have previously reported that this monitoring has led to some workers avoiding taking bathroom breaks.
The Buffalo factory employs more than 800 staff in the Autopilot division. These analysts are in non-engineering roles that contribute to the development of Tesla’s automated driving systems. This includes identifying objects captured in images from its vehicles, which helps to update the on-board systems with the ability to recognise hazards on the road.
These analyst positions were held by hundreds of Tesla staff in California before they were dismissed in June 2022, according to US business news site Bloomberg.
Workers United has said that it’s also aiming to organise the estimated 1,000 manufacturing employees that work at the Buffalo factory. One employee said that the sackings at the Autopilot division had only encouraged more workers to support the union effort.
“It’s pretty clear the message they’re sending. They’re trying to scare us,” they said. “And it’s really backfiring on them.”
Tesla denies the allegations
In response to the allegations, Tesla said that four per cent of workers on the Autopilot labelling team were let go and they were identified on February 3, before the union campaign: “The employees let go as part of this process received prior feedback on their poor performance from their managers over the course of the review period. Despite feedback, they did not demonstrate sufficient improvement.”
Tesla has published a blog post, confirming the timeline of its layoffs and denying any wrongdoing. It explained its process for performance reviews every six months and stated that “if an employee fails to meet their performance expectations they will be let go”.
Tesla claims that the latest reviews covered the second half of 2022 and that managers were informed on December 13 that layoffs would begin on the week beginning February 12, 2023.
Tesla asserts that this process applies to employees across all of its locations, including North America, Europe and China.
Tesla also responded to the allegations that suggested employees were afraid to take bathroom breaks: “The reason there is time monitoring for image labeling is to improve the ease of use of our labeling software. Since its purpose is to calculate how long it takes to label an image, there is nothing to be gained by delaying bathroom breaks. The claim that Tesla pressures employees to do so is categorically false.”
Latest in a string of bad publicity
The developments in Buffalo are the latest in a series of ups and downs for the American electric car firm. Its Autopilot system is in need of the back-room staff to help achieves Tesla’s claims that the system will offer ‘full self-driving’.
Elon Musk has seen his personal fortune drop after his purchase of Twitter ended up damaging the stock value of Tesla itself, while Tesla slashed the prices of its Model 3 and Model Y ranges by thousands of pounds overnight in the new year, but buyers that had already placed a deposit were faced with paying the higher original price.
The price slash has resulted in orders of the Model Y being full for the first quarter of this year.
In other news, the Tesla Supercharger network has expanded its ability to charge models other than Teslas. The high-voltage network is being geared towards use by all brands to help fulfil a US Government plan to have an estimated 20 million EVs on the road in the States by 2030.
Related articles
- After reading about the Tesla firing staff for discussing unionising, you may want to read that Musk blamed the ‘fun police’ for a Tesla recall of nearly 600,000 cars
- Don’t miss this video of the Tesla-rivalling Lucid Air with 1,111hp recording a 2.88sec 0-60mph time
- It’s also worth noting that a Tesla Autopilot report recently showed an improving safety record
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