U.S. regulators are stepping up efforts toTeslaReview of the Robotaxi program. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sent the company a list of questions as part of its ongoing investigation into Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.
The agency wants to know how the FSD system performs in harsh conditions such as fog, rain or bright light, and asked Tesla how it plans to safely test Robotaxi on public roads.
The investigation began in October 2024 after four incidents involving FSD systems in low-visibility conditions.
Currently, Tesla FSD still requires drivers to remain alert and keep their hands on the steering wheel. But CEO Elon Musk said that the upcoming version of Robotaxi will achieve completely unsupervised driving.
Regulators wanted to confirm whether the new system was the same as the existing road version, and asked about the number of vehicles, areas of use and Tesla's safety verification methods.
In April, Tesla said its Robotaxi tests in Austin and the Bay Area had completed more than 1,500 trips, with a cumulative mileage of 15,000 miles.
The service will compete with companies such as Waymo, Amazon Zoox (AMZN), Baidu (BIDU), WeRide (WRD) and Pony.ai (PONY).