Tesla’s Autopilot Faces Possible Roadblock with Germany's Transport Agency

Tesla’s advanced semi-autonomous-driving technology, Autopilot, has been under a lot of scrutiny as of late. The majority of the issues stem from a smattering of crashes – one of which was fatal – where Autopilot didn’t act as it was supposed to. Now, a new report from Reuters says that the German transportation agency thinks it’s a “traffic hazard.”

Reuters’ report stems from an article in German magazine, Der Speigel. In this article, the magazine said that it saw an internal report Germany's Transport Ministry that spoke lowly about Tesla’s system.

According to the report, Germany’s transportation department found that drivers were not alerted when Autopilot’s series of cameras and processors couldn’t solve a particular driving situation. It also noted that the sensors didn’t see back far enough when passing and the automatic braking was inadequate.

The most alarming of the quotes from the report was that Tesla’s autopilot system is a “considerable traffic hazard.”

So, why is the Autopilot system still available in Germany? According to the report, the ministry hasn’t made a final determination yet and it’s still undergoing testing.

Tesla, of course, makes sure people know that Autopilot is a driver-assistance system and not for use as a fully-autonomous driver. It also told Reuters that its auto braking system is “state of the art.”

We’ll continue monitoring this and bring you updates as they become available.

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