A former Tesla employee has expressed doubts about the safety of the technology behind the company's self-driving vehicles, stating that it is not yet safe enough for public roads.
Lukasz Krupski, who leaked data including customer complaints about Tesla's braking and self-driving software to German newspaper Handelsblatt in May, shared his concerns in an interview with the BBC. He claimed that his attempts to raise these issues internally were ignored.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, has been a strong advocate for the company's self-driving technology. However, in his first UK interview, Mr. Krupski told the BBC's technology editor, Zoe Kleinman, that he was worried about how AI was being used to power Tesla's autopilot service.
Tesla’s autopilot feature includes assisted steering and parking but still requires someone in the driver's seat with their hands on the wheel. Mr. Krupski said he found evidence in company data suggesting that safety requirements for vehicles with autonomous or assistive-driving technology had not been followed. He mentioned instances of "phantom braking," where vehicles randomly brake in response to non-existent obstacles, a problem also reflected in customer complaints.
According to Tesla's data, at the end of 2022, U.S. customers using Autopilot averaged one crash with airbag deployment every 5 million miles. In comparison, Tesla drivers not using Autopilot averaged a crash every 1.5 million miles, and the overall U.S. driver average was once every 600,000 miles. The BBC has not independently verified these figures.
Mr. Krupski said he felt compelled to share his findings with data protection authorities. The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Tesla's claims regarding its assisted driving features since January. Tesla is also facing probes and questions from agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about its autopilot system.
German newspaper Handelsblatt published the "Tesla Files" after Mr. Krupski shared 100GB of internal data. The data protection authority in the Netherlands, where Tesla's European headquarters are located, confirmed to the BBC that it was investigating the data breach.
In early November, the UK Government announced plans for an Automated Vehicles Bill to establish a legal framework for self-driving cars in the King's Speech.