Tesla is recalling nearly 27,000 cars in the US due to windshield defrosting problems, according to a US safety regulator. The electric vehicle company is recalling 26,681 cars, including some 2021-2022 Model 3, Model S, Model X, and 2020-2022 Model Y vehicles, according to a safety recall report. In an acknowledgement letter from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) dated 8 February, Tesla informed the federal organisation that a software error linked to the vehicle's heat pump was behind the windshield defrosting. "A software error may cause a valve in the heat pump to open unintentionally and trap the refrigerant inside the evaporator, resulting in decreased defrosting performance," the letter said. The defrosting problem may reduce drivers' visibility and potentially increase the risk of a crash, the NHTSA noted.

"The Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) or Autopilot systems may not function as designed, increasing the risk of a crash." It's a simple sentence, delivered with the calm finality of bureaucratic certainty. It is a literal post-mortem, the bottom-line-up-front from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's investigation into the first fatal crash of an autonomous car--one made by Tesla Motors. The investigation into the crash closed today, and it will likely cast a long shadow over the future of self-driving cars, which have long been heralded as potentially life-saving devices. There was no particularly unique flaw to the Tesla that Joshua Brown, of Canton Ohio, was driving on May 7th, 2016.

Driverless cars are set to improve, disrupt, and challenge the way we travel--someday. As of now, self-driving cars aren't available for widespread use, as they aren't sufficiently developed or safe to be commercially sold. It may take decades before they are able to infiltrate the market or gain enough public acceptance to be successful. Seth Birnbaum is CEO of EverQuote, the largest online auto insurance marketplace in the US. Even though autonomous vehicles haven't gone mainstream, US government regulators published their automated vehicle policy in September, and many states are working to develop regulations for autonomous cars.

This paper describes a program of research that aims to develop and test healthcare robots for elder care. We describe the aims of the project, the robots developed, and studies we have performed in HRI in elder care. We highlight research design issues that have become apparent in the retirement home setting when testing robots. These issues are relevant to robotics researchers wishing to evaluate the effects of robotic care on older people’s quality of life.