Washington, DC – On Monday, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced formal investigations into Tesla’s autopilot self-driving features. Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement:
“NHTSA’s investigation into Tesla’s self-driving technology is a welcome and much-needed development.
“For years, transportation unions have warned against the perils of using our streets as an unregulated proving ground for new technologies, without regard for safety or accountability for the protection of other road users. Tesla’s total disregard for the safety of their drivers and those around them has made them the posterchild for these warnings. Since 2017, NHTSA has opened 30 investigations into Tesla crashes involving 10 deaths – a clear demonstration that Tesla has made unsuspecting road users their crash test dummies using unproven autopilot features.
“The latest investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot systems shows what we have been saying for years: the lure of new technology cannot take precedence over the safety of the American public. Until self-driving technologies are carefully regulated with strict safeguards in place, and corporations like Tesla are held accountable, unproven AV technology has no place on our roads.”