NHTSA Ruling On Tesla's Autopilot Comes As A Major Relief

Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) received a major boost to its development of self-driving cars when the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Department of Investigation closed its review of a fatal accident of a Tesla Model S while it was on autopilot. The investigation concluded that there was no problem with Autosteer, the key part of Tesla's Autopilot, and confirmed Tesla's claims that when used properly the system reduced crash rates by almost 40%. The investigation found that Tesla vehicle crash rates dropped from 1.3 accidents per million miles driven to 0.8 after the introduction of Autosteer. This is important news for the company and gives its efforts towards building a self-driving Tesla car sharing program a major boost. Last year, the company announced the second master plan for the company.