The First Step Toward Protecting Everyone Else From Teslas

After spending years looking into 30 separate Tesla crashes, this week federal safety officials finally took a step toward cracking down on the electric carmaker. On Monday, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration announced an investigation into Autopilot, Tesla's driver assistance system, which allows the vehicle to manage certain highway tasks like changing lanes and moderating speed, and which numerous drivers have treated like a fully autonomous driving system (sometimes for the entertainment of their social media followers). NHTSA's new investigation has a narrow focus: It will seek to determine why Teslas with Autopilot engaged have crashed at least 11 times into stationary first-responder vehicles. Depending on what the agency concludes, NHTSA could declare a "defect" in Autopilot, insisting that Tesla correct it or else face a hefty fine. NHTSA's power over the automotive sector shouldn't be underestimated; the agency's investigation in Takata's faulty airbags helped push the multi-billion dollar company into bankruptcy in 2017.