By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it is investigating startup Comma.ai after reports of five crashes of vehicles using its aftermarket driver-assistance devices involving three reported deaths and 11 serious injuries.
NHTSA said vehicles with Comma devices reportedly struck five stopped or slow-moving vehicles. Comma.ai says the devices that use open source software can allow for hands-free driving and reports more than 30,000 vehicles have logged 402 million miles with the devices.
The system “can accelerate, brake automatically for other vehicles, and steer to follow the road/lane,” Comma.ai says.
The company could not immediately be reached for comment but says on its website that it requires “the driver to be alert, pay attention, and be ready to take over at all times.”
NHTSA said it will review any other incidents involving the Comma.ai devices and obtain data to verify system status for each incident and evaluate system performance and safeguards.
In 2016, NHTSA demanded that Comma.ai provide proof to regulators that its proposed device for self-driving cars would be safe, or risk having its sale blocked.
The company at the time said in response it was redirecting its efforts to “other products and markets.” The California Department of Motor Vehicles had also in 2016 sent Comma.ai a cease-and-desist letter.
NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board have repeatedly investigated serious crashes involving failures of vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems to identify stopped or slow vehicles on highways.
In March, the NTSB criticized Ford Motor’s hands-free advanced driver assistance system BlueCruise for failing to ensure drivers were not distracted before they were involved in two fatal collisions.
The Ford SUVs struck stationary vehicles at highway speeds in San Antonio and Philadelphia, killing three people in total, and there was no attempt to brake by either Ford driver.
In 2023, Tesla recalled over 2 million vehicles in the US to better ensure drivers pay attention when using its Autopilot driver assistance system after NHTSA opened a probe after identifying more than a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles hit stationary emergency vehicles.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Nick Zieminski, Alexandra Hudson)
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