Comma One creator gives up project after NHTSA probes for more information

October 28, 2016 01:00 AM

George Hotz: "Would much rather spend my life building amazing tech than dealing with regulators and lawyers. It isn't worth it."

Would much rather spend my life building amazing tech than dealing with regulators and lawyers. It isn't worth it. -GH 2/3
— comma ai (@comma_ai) October 28, 2016

Comma.ai may have just become a footnote in the history of self-driving cars.

The autonomous driving startup was launched in early 2016 by George Hotz, a programmer who was the first to hack Apple’s iPhone at the age of 17. On Thursday, Hotz tweeted from Comma.ai’s account that he was putting a halt to Comma One, the company’s first aftermarket driver assist product, after receiving a letter from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking him to respond to questions about the function and safety of the product.

“Would much rather spend my life building amazing tech than dealing with regulators and lawyers,” Hotz wrote. “It isn’t worth it.”

Hotz introduced the Comma One at TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference in September. The $999 aftermarket product would provide semiautonomous capabilities similar to Tesla’s Autopilot software to certain Honda vehicles. In a blog post published on Oct. 20, Hotz wrote that the Comma One would not provide full autonomy to vehicles and that drivers should still pay attention while the driving assist technology was activated. The company had not yet announced a release date for the technology.

In the letter to Hotz, Paul Hemmersbaugh, NHTSA’s chief counsel, wrote that since Comma One is an aftermarket product, Comma.ai falls under the classification of a vehicle equipment manufacturer and is subject to the agency’s regulation. To determine if Comma One complies with NHTSA standards, Hemmersbaugh requested that Hotz complete a “special order” that included questions on how the Comma One would work.

“We are concerned that your product would put the safety of your customers and other road users at risk,” Hemmersbaugh wrote. “We strongly encourage you to delay selling or deploying your product on the public roadways unless and until you can ensure it’s safe.”

In 2015, Hotz built a self-driving Acura in his garage, and then started Comma.ai to “build the first super-human driving agent.”

In April, Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz valued the company at $23 million, according to Forbes.