By Lora Kolodny -
CNBC
Electric car maker Tesla recalled 362,758 vehicles for safety concerns with its assistance software known as
Full Self-Driving Beta
(FSD Beta) or "complete autonomous driving," according to a company statement published Thursday.
Tesla will try to fix the problems with this feature via an over-the-air software update, according to the notice.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a report that the "full autonomous driving" system
can cause accidents by allowing affected vehicles to behave
"unsafely."
at intersections."
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One of the problems, the agency said, is that vehicles can make the mistake of “going straight through an intersection from a turn-only lane, going through an intersection with stop signs without making a necessary stop, or crossing without warning or an intersection to ignore the yellow signal”.
The FSD Beta system may also have trouble responding appropriately "to changes in speed limits posted to it," the notice states.
Interior of a Tesla electric vehicle, Model 3, in an August 2022 file photoBloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Affected models
Tesla shares fell just over 1% on the news, but quickly recovered.
The hundreds of thousands of vehicles recalled include the following years and models:
Model S
and
Model X
, from 2016 to 2023;
Model 3
, from 2017 to 2023;
and
Model Y
, from 2020 to 2023.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and company advocates have objected to the use of the term "recall" or "recall" to describe defects or safety issues in cars that can be fixed with a software update. wireless.
Musk wrote on Twitter Thursday:
"The word 'retired' for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just plain wrong
. "
Tesla enables thousands of drivers to test new or unfinished autonomous driving features on public highways across the United States, through the FSD Beta software.
A $15,000 function
The technology does not make Tesla electric vehicles autonomous or safe to drive without a human behind the wheel who can brake with their feet or turn the wheel when necessary.
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Only owners of Tesla cars that have the company's
premium
self-driving system installed ,
which costs $15,000, or $199 a month in the United States,
can use this feature .
Owners must also achieve and maintain a high driving safety score, which is calculated by a Tesla system that monitors each person's driving habits.
[On video: The shocking crash of a Tesla driver against a building in Ohio]
Tesla has never disclosed how many people have purchased or subscribed to the FSD
premium
feature .
On the company's latest earnings call, Musk said: "To date, we have rolled out (the)
Full Self-Driving Beta
(...) to about 400,000 customers in North America."