The US Department of Justice has started investigating Tesla’s driver assistance features, as stated in the company’s filing with US regulators.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla revealed it had received requests from the DOJ for documents related to Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Tesla is already under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The NHTSA is reviewing the company’s Autopilot system, based on multiple road accidents involving Tesla cars.
The agency also blocked Tesla’s decision to remove the FSD Beta steering wheel nag.
CEO Elon Musk has always promised his company would soon release full self-driving. However, until now, Tesla cars only ship with driving assistance features that help change lanes, identify stop signs, etc. Drivers still have to pay attention to the road and always hold the steering wheel.
Tesla did not elaborate on what the DOJ wanted. However, there are reports the justice department wants to know if Tesla’s promises of reliable driver assistance could give the driver a false sense of security.
Tesla has faced criticism over its features’ names. For example, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said the term “full self-driving” is misleading. Bloomberg actually reports the DOJ opened its investigation for similar reasons.
However, Tesla said in its filing that no government agency has found it guilty of any wrongdoing.
