Tesla's Autopilot faces a new problem: unexpected braking while driving

The Tesla Autopilot keeps receiving reports of problems and malfunctions. There are many reports about issues with Tesla’s autonomous driving system, which prompt the company to keep improving it and make it increasingly practical. Even so, the NHTSA, the road safety agency, has received hundreds of complaints about unexpected braking while driving.

Specifically, 354 complaints on this matter have been filed over the last nine months. The affected models are the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 manufactured in 2021. These unexpected brake applications occur while driving with Autopilot. This system makes changes to the vehicle’s trajectory, speed and other variables thanks to a complex system of sensors, radars and eight cameras that monitor the vehicle’s surroundings. These interact with advanced hardware that is updated automatically and periodically with software.

The braking errors occur both occasionally and continuously during use, which has led the NHTSA to recall 416,000 units of these models. The US agency has dealt with several problems and recalls of various models from the brand for different reasons, many of them related to Autopilot.

In September 2021, impacts with emergency vehicles were reported that were parked on the shoulder at night, so the cars failed to detect the stationary vehicles. Other problems detected in Tesla models have been related to the risk of airbags rupturing when deployed.

Other Tesla owners detected problems as strange as the front hood opening unexpectedly or the rear camera malfunctioning. Other issues that had to be resolved include the audible warning that sounds when the seatbelt is not fastened, which was fixed with a software update.

Normally, Tesla detects these problems quickly and repairs them without the need for intervention by the road safety agency. Now, Tesla is preparing the FSD Beta autonomous driving system. This system is being tested on a limited fleet of 60,000 units and in real traffic conditions. In the first tests it was found that most of these vehicles do not detect Stop signs and do not stop at them.

This feature has been deactivated remotely and accidents on roads and in cities have been avoided. Even so, Elon Musk continues to assure that full autonomous driving in Tesla vehicles will be active by the end of 2022.