Tesla is being investigated by the US government after reports the firm's self-driving cars had broken traffic laws, including driving on the wrong side of the road and not stopping for red lights. It said it was aware of 58 reports where the electric cars had committed such violations, according to a filing from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). An estimated 2.9 million cars equipped with full self-driving tech will fall under the investigation. Tesla, whose boss Elon Musk recently became the world's first half-trillionaire, has been approached for comment. The NHTSA's preliminary evaluation will assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety consequences of the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) mode.

The preliminary evaluation by NHTSA is the first step before potentially seeking a recall of the vehicles. The preliminary evaluation by NHTSA is the first step before potentially seeking a recall of the vehicles. US automobile safety regulators have opened an investigation into Tesla vehicles equipped with its full self-driving technology over traffic-safety violations after a series of crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the electric carmaker's self driving assistance system, which requires drivers to pay attention and intervene if needed, had "induced vehicle behaviour that violated traffic safety laws". The preliminary evaluation by the NHTSA is the first step before potentially seeking a recall of the vehicles if it believes they pose a risk to safety.

Elon Musk's latest business venture just rolled out an updated service map that has all of social media convinced he's trolling his critics with a juvenile image. Over the weekend, Musk's electric car company Tesla unveiled the expanded area where Robotaxi will be operating in Austin, Texas. Robotaxi launched in June in a small, geofenced portion of the city, meaning the self-driving cars could not operate anywhere else. It's not Robotaxi's expansion that's raising eyebrows, but the oddly shaped coverage zone, which many on social media insist resembles a phallus. Musk himself posted an enlarged image of the new Robotaxi map on X Monday morning with no comment. While Tesla CEO wouldn't say this phallic-shaped map was done intentionally as a joke, his followers on X quickly pounced on the alleged prank.

The main transportation safety regulator in the US is requesting information from Tesla after videos showed the company's self-driving Robotaxis exceeding the speed limit or veering into the wrong lane. The company launched the service in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. Tesla heavily promoted the initial, limited rollout of its Robotaxis, which included pro-Tesla influencers using the paid ride service and showing off footage of their trips. Instead of positive promotion, though, those videos appear to have drawn scrutiny from the National Highway Transit Safety Administration (NHTSA), as the cars struggled to comply with traffic laws. "NHTSA is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information," the agency said in a statement.

Despite the importance Musk places on his robotaxi project, Sunday's launch was low key. A small group of invited analysts, influencers and shareholders participated in paid rides. Musk congratulated Tesla's artificial intelligence and chip design teams on the launch in a post on X, external, writing that it was "culmination of a decade of hard work". However, social media footage seems to show the vehicles struggled with real world driving scenarios. One video seems to show a robotaxi stopping abruptly as it passes a parked police car.

Driverless cars are beginning to display human-like behaviors like impatience on the roads, in a sign of increased intelligence in the robotaxis. The chilling development was identified by University of San Francisco engineering Professor William Riggs, who has been studying Waymo cars since their inception. On a journey with a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, the pair noticed the Waymo they were traveling in crept to a rolling start at a pedestrian crossing before the person had reached the other footpath. The subtle movement was reminiscent of the way humans act behind the wheel, but a strange occurrence for the robotic Waymo, which prides itself on being safer than a driver because it errs on the side of caution and leaves no room for human error. The action of letting the foot gently off the break moments before they should to allow the car to begin creeping forward at a rolling pace displays a sense of impatience - a human reaction not previously seen in the robotic cars.

Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing company that launched its services in Los Angeles late last year, is recalling more than 1,200 vehicles due to a software defect, the National Highway Traffic Safety Assn. said Wednesday. The recall comes after a series of minor crashes with gates, chains and other obstacles in the road that did not result in any injuries, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company said in a filing with the NHTSA. The recall applies to 1,212 driverless vehicles operating on Waymo's fifth-generation automated driving software. Waymo released a software update to resolve the issue, and that update has already been rolled out in all affected vehicles, the recall notice said. The company operates more than 1,500 vehicles across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin.

Elon Musk's Tesla plans to roll-out self-driving'robotaxis' in just a few weeks, but auto safety officials may force the billionaire to cancel his long-awaited dream Tesla was set to launch the service next month in Austin, Texas, unleashing taxis powered by its Full Self-Driving (FSD) program. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently caught wind of Musk's upcoming rollout and sent the company a letter to gather additional information. The NHTSA wants to ' understand how Tesla plans to evaluate its vehicles and driving automation technologies for use on public roads' before the robotaxis are unleashed on busy Austin streets. The agency highlighted its investigations into four crashes and a pedestrian linked to Tesla's FDS. The blow has led to Musk's critics suggesting he will have to put a pin in his plans.

Elon Musk and his companies face at least 2.37bn in legal exposure from federal investigations, litigation and regulatory oversight, according to a new report from Senate Democrats. The report attempts to put a number to Musk's many conflicts of interest through his work with his so-called "department of government efficiency" (Doge), warning that he may seek to use his influence to avoid legal liability. The report, which was published on Monday by Democratic members of the Senate homeland security committee's permanent subcommittee on investigations, looked at 65 actual or potential actions against Musk across 11 separate agencies. Investigators calculated the financial liabilities Musk and his companies, such as Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, may face in 45 of those actions. Since Donald Trump won re-election last year and Musk took on the role of de facto head of Doge in January, ethics watchdogs and Democratic officials have warned that the Tesla CEO could use his power to oust regulators and quash investigations into his companies.

Elon Musk's chainsaw has been swinging through the federal government over the last few weeks, with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chopping down budgets and excising staff at a number of agencies. Among those affected is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is said to be losing about 10 percent of its relatively small headcount through buyouts and firings. According to The Washington Post, between 70 and 80 people are departing the agency, which is responsible for road safety in the US. Those ex-employees are said to have worked in a number of areas, such as safety grant funding and crash test dummies. The DOGE cull also impacted three people from a very small team that was working on the safety of autonomous vehicles, such as those from Alphabet's Waymo, Amazon's Zoox and -- hey, look at that! -- Elon Musk's Tesla.