A few days ago, the Associated Press had reported that both Tesla vehicles and Mercedes Benz vehicles drivers could play games on touch screens on the dashboard. Mercedes-Benz issued a U.S. recall but Tesla did not, as yet.
U.S. regulators posted documents on Friday where Mercedes-Benz said that the issue was seen on 227 vehicles and that the German automaker had fixed it. The automaker updated an internal computer server. This showed that it had concerns about distracted driving.
Jason Levine, who is the executive director for Center for Auto Safety, said that they were happy that Mercedes recalled and repaired the “unreasonable risk to everyone on the road.” Levine said that the nonprofit urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to “move quickly” and to ensure that all “screen-based entertainment” that provided distractions to drivers when vehicles were in motion were “disabled, no matter the manufacturer.”
Philip Koopman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University said that MB followed regulatory rules as they were supposed to, in sharp contrast as to what has been seen by Tesla. The professor added that if NHTSA did not take action against Tesla then the agency would have one standard for Tesla and another for Mercedes and other automakers.
Although the NHTSA did not directly mention the double standard or Tesla, it released a statement on Friday which stated that “every motor vehicle manufacturer in the United States has the same responsibility to identify and immediately repair, for free, such safety defects in their vehicles.”
NHTSA also said that it was assessing how automakers identified and safeguarded against distractions hazards that were a result of “faults, misuse or intended use of infotainment screens.”
The Associated Press asked Tesla for comment through a message on Friday, but did not receive a reply, as yet. The EV maker has disbanded its media relations department.
The NHTSA has ongoing investigations on Tesla’s “Autopilot.” This partially automated system has caused vehicle to crash into stopped emergency vehicles. It is also probing the “Full Self-Driving” software that narrowly missed a crash.
Tesla said that neither “Autopilot” nor “Full Self-Driving” software can drive vehicles. Drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.
