Tesla fixes its autonomous FSD technology for an “American stop sign” problem

While Elon Musk promises that by the end of this year, Tesla’s Full Self Driving (fully automatic driving, or FSD) technology will be safer than the judgment of a human being, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the States United States forces the manufacturer to recall some 54,000 vehicles that do not make a complete mandatory stop when the autonomous mode is activated.

NHTSA has found that when Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X are driven in FSD mode, they do not necessarily perform full mandatory stops. Rather, they would slow down without necessarily stopping. Not only is this practice considered a traffic violation, but it can also endanger the safety of passengers and pedestrians.

It is however important to specify that it was a mode in the Tesla which was called Rolling Stop. Owners could choose to allow the vehicle not to come to a complete stop at a mandatory stop, but only on condition that the speed limit of the location did not exceed 50 kilometers per hour.

In the United States, the recall affects 53,822 vehicles with FSD firmware 2020.40.10 or newer. Transport Canada has not yet published anything to this effect.

To address the issue, Tesla will release update 2021.44.30.15 over the next few days. This will completely deactivate the Rolling Stop mode and force Teslas traveling in FSD mode to stop at mandatory stops.