Feds intensify investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has escalated its probe into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software, particularly focusing on its performance in low-visibility conditions. Initially opened in October 2024 following four crashes—including one pedestrian fatality—the investigation has now reached an “engineering analysis” phase, the agency’s highest level of scrutiny often preceding a recall. The probe highlights concerns that Tesla’s system failed to detect common roadway conditions impairing camera visibility and did not provide timely alerts to drivers, contributing to multiple crashes where the software lost track of lead vehicles or failed to detect them entirely. Despite Tesla developing an update to address these low-visibility issues as early as June 2024, the company has not confirmed whether the fix was deployed or which vehicles received it. The ODI also suspects under-reporting of similar incidents due to Tesla’s data collection and labeling limitations. This investigation runs alongside another inquiry into Tesla’s driver-ass