As Tesla Inc TSLA looks to launch autonomous vehicles and its robotaxis in select markets, the company could face setbacks with recent reports showing the vehicles struggling with stopping at railroad crossings.
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What Happened: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has put an emphasis on the importance of FSD and autonomous vehicles for the company’s future.
A new report from NBC highlights recent issues with Tesla’s FSD software being used and vehicles struggling to stop at train tracks.
“It felt like it was going to run through the arms,” Tesla owner Italo Frigoli told NBC. “So obviously I just slammed on the brakes.”
Frigoli, who was using FSD on his vehicle in June, said he stopped mere feet away from the railroad crossing that was lowering its arms and had flashing lights with a train headed that way.
“I would think with flashing red lights the car should stop on its own.”
Tesla owner Jared Cleaver said his 2021 Tesla Model 3 using FSD came to a complete stop at a railroad crossing with a train coming and then began to go forward before he slammed on the brakes.
“I think it doesn’t perform nearly as well as Elon claims and Tesla claims,” Cleaver said.
Another driver experienced their Tesla vehicle using FSD turning left when it got to train tracks, according to Western Berks Fire Commissioner Jared Renshaw.
NBC News interviewed six drivers who experienced similar issues with railroad crossings. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed to NBC News that it has been in contact with Tesla about the issues.
“We are aware of the incidents and have been in communication with the manufacturer,” the NHTSA told NBC.
Along with the interviews, NBC also highlighted Tesla drivers who shared videos of similar incidents online and said the issues are also discussed on Tesla forums.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology research scientist Bryan Reimer told NBC that the expectation for self-driving technology is that it can handle railroad crossings, especially given Musk’s claim that Tesla vehicles can drive themselves.
“You’d think they’d be able to reliably detect this stuff,” Reimer said.
NBC said Tesla did not respond for comment and Musk has not publicly addressed the issue. Musk has said an FSD update is coming this month, but it’s unknown if a fix is in place for this issue.
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Why It’s Important: The NHTSA being aware of the situation could mean struggles for Tesla as it looks to roll out robotaxis in more cities and Musk saying unsupervised FSD could be available later this year in some areas.
President Donald Trump recently announced he would appoint autonomous vehicle critic Jonathan Morris to lead the NHTSA, a potential setback for Tesla moving forward.
Trump himself is a previous autonomous vehicle critic, a position that he seemed to have a slight change of heart on during his close friendship with Musk.
With Musk no longer working with the White House, he may not get the preferential treatment for his company he may have been hoping for.
“Do you like autonomous? Does anybody like an autonomous vehicle? Know what that is? Right? When you see a car driving along? Some people do, I don’t know. A little concerning to me, but the autonomous vehicles we’re going to stop from operating on American roads,” Trump said in October 2024.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) also said recently that he plans to introduce a bill that would ban fully autonomous vehicles from the country.
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