Tesla's self-driving system has been criticized repeatedly over the years. One group calling for a ban on Tesla's Full Self-Driving software is The Dawn Project, a nonprofit group founded by Dan O'Dowd. It's campaigning to get Congress to ban it.
Last year, The Dawn Project launched a nationwide TV ad campaign to highlight the dangers of the system following its testing (MotorTrend reports Tesla sent the group a cease-and-desist letter regarding the videos calling them "defamatory.") The group also ran a Super Bowl ad this year as part of its campaign against the technology.
Now, the Dawn Project is sharing the results of tests of Tesla's driver monitoring camera system. The group calls the system defective and says it also fails to detect when the driver has both hands off the steering wheel when the vehicle is in Full Self-Driving mode.
The Dawn Project says the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) required Tesla to add the driver monitoring system following Joshua Brown's fatal self-driving collision with a tractor-trailer in June 2016. The crash was attributed to driver inattention by the government agency.
Dawn Project researchers say its tests of Tesla's driver monitoring system reveal that the internal camera fails to recognize the following actions commonly performed by an inattentive driver:
- Looking out of the side window for a prolonged period of time
- Eating a meal while actively not paying attention to the road ahead
- Turning around and looking in the back seat
- Placing a weight on the steering wheel to simulate a driver's hands
To read the full Dawn Project press release click here.
