Tesla will review 362,000 vehicles due to concerns about the safety of its autopilot system in the US

A new setback for Elon Musk.

Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer he founded in 2003, will proceed to review 362,000 vehicles because the autonomous driving software can cause an accident, the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Thursday, a federal agency which depends on the Department of Transportation).

The news caused an immediate drop in the company's share price on the Nasdaq index, with a mid-session loss of 3.35%.

The highway safety agency has reported that

autonomous driving software allows a vehicle to "exceed speed limits or travel [through intersections] in an illegal or unpredictable manner, increasing the risk of accidents.

Tesla will launch an update to the program, which will be free for customers, although it said it is not aware of any accidents resulting in injury or death from this cause.

The revision affects models S, X, 3 and Y, all of them manufactured between 2016 and 2023 and equipped with one of two

autopilot

“The [autonomous driving] feature could potentially violate local traffic laws while executing certain driving maneuvers,” NHTSA said.

Among the possible examples, the agency cites crossing intersections or making turns with a yellow light, as well as changing lanes.

The federal agency's announcement comes hours after the White House, which promotes the manufacture and use of electric vehicles, announced that Musk's company will open part of its network of charging stations (at least 7,500 positions in total). , by the end of 2024) to its competitors, after President Joe Biden wrested the commitment from Musk.

The Democratic administration aims to have at least 500,000 publicly accessible electric vehicle chargers on American highways by 2030, regardless of the make of vehicle they drive.

Regarding the safety of Tesla vehicles, manned or not, the news of accidents follows one another.

An out-of-control Tesla killed two people in Guangdong province (China) last November, although there is no record that the driver, who tested negative for alcohol and drugs, activated the autopilot system.

This same month it has been known that a Tesla that caused an accident in San Francisco in November did have the AutoPilot system activated.

The crash, in which eight vehicles were involved, caused several injuries, including a child.

The cars manufactured by Tesla have two different automatic driving systems, the Autopilot, intended for use on roads and expressways, and the FSB Beta, for urban environments and capable, supposedly, of recognizing traffic lights, stop signs and performing turns in the city

The Beta is the one that has supposedly caused the failures in the vehicles that are going to be withdrawn.

In both the Guangdong and San Francisco cases, the origin of the accident was in what is known as

, or automatic, when the Autopilot and FSD systems forcefully activate the brake for no apparent reason, and with dire consequences.

The road safety agency has recalled that, despite the automatic pilot programs, driving the vehicle always requires the supervision of a human.

In addition to a lawsuit against Musk for his tweets about the future of the company, Tesla has experienced one of the worst stock market performances on Wall Street in recent months in memory.

The company of the South African tycoon chained last year the worst stock market streak since 2018 and at the end of December it lost almost 70% of its value that year.

In addition to its noisy entry into the social network Twitter, doubts about a slowdown in demand and the Government's promotion of electric cars, with subsidies to individuals, weighed down the pioneering electric automotive company and pushed it to offer succulent discounts on their cars.

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