U.S. seeks information from Tesla on cabin camera in Autopilot probe

WASHINGTON -- U.S. auto safety regulators on Thursday asked Tesla Inc. to answer questions about its cabin camera as part of a probe into 830,000 Tesla vehicles that employ the carmaker's advanced driver assistance system called Autopilot.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in June upgraded its probe opened in 2021 to assess the performance of Autopilot after earlier identifying a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles struck stopped emergency vehicles.

NHTSA's nine-page letter demands Tesla answer questions by Oct. 12 about "the role that the Cabin Camera plays in the enforcement of driver engagement/attentiveness."

According to Tesla, the cabin camera can determine driver inattentiveness and provide audible alerts to remind the driver to keep their eyes on the road when Autopilot is engaged.