An investigation of the German newspaper handelsblatt said it received 100 GB of data from “various informants” within Tesla, which denounced how the company received thousands of complaints about its autopilot features in recent years. According to jalopnik, the collection contained 23,000 internal files, with complaints from 2015 to March 2022. Within that time period, the automaker received 2,400 reports on auto-acceleration issues and 1,500 cases on braking function issues. The latter included 139 complaints about unintentional emergency braking and 383 about phantom stops due to false collision warnings.
In addition, the files included more than 1,000 accident reports and a table of 3,000 incidents in which drivers raised safety concerns about Tesla’s driver assistance system.
In a letter explaining why the publication decided to publish information from the Tesla files, the editor-in-chief of handelsblattSebastian Matthes said a 12-person team reviewed and evaluated the files over six months. “The data paints a picture of an electric car pioneer who appears to have far greater technological problems than previously known. With his autopilot, for example. Tesla’s files contain thousands of reports of complications with driver assistance systems. Complaints of Tesla vehicles suddenly braking at full speed. Or suddenly speed up,” he wrote.
Tesla’s Autopilot is a driver assistance system that allows the car to control steering, acceleration, and braking within its lane. It is based on a set of cameras, sensors and an on-board computer that processes information from the environment. The autopilot can be engaged and disengaged from the steering wheel and requires the driver’s attention and supervision at all times.
It has several features such as adaptive cruise control, automatic lane change, automatic parking and autopilot navigation.
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