Tesla Strikes Back At Washington Post Over 'Egregious' Autopilot Article, Says 'Morally' Obligated To Expand Userbase

EV giant Tesla Inc TSLA on Monday reiterated the safety of its Autopilot driver assistance system while refuting a media report on its shortcomings.

Tesla Says: “While there are many articles that do not accurately convey the nature of our safety systems, the recent Washington Post article is particularly egregious in its misstatements and lack of relevant context,” Tesla wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Tesla said in the post that its safety systems are already the best-in-class and that it is “morally indefensible” not to make them available to a wider audience, citing data that it is “saving lives” and “preventing injury.”

Tesla also provided context that it deemed missing in the news report, including that autopilot reduces the incidence of crashes and that the driver controls the vehicle at all times even on engaging autopilot features. The Washington Post story, Tesla says, pinpoints cases of driver misuse of the system to suggest that the system is the problem.

Ark Invest analyst Tasha Keeney believes Tesla to be a large and looming competitor in the autonomous vehicle industry. "Tesla's FSD software (which isn't fully driver-out yet) appears to be much better than its human-driven Tesla benchmark," she wrote last month.

Media Report Says: Tesla was referring to a Washington Post report from Monday on serious crashes involving Tesla’s autopilot. The newspaper said it identified at least eight serious wrecks involving autopilot on roads where it was not intended to be operated.

While the oldest wreck, as per the newspaper, is from 2016 in Florida, the most recent is from earlier this year when a Tesla in autopilot hit a teenager in North Carolina.

“Even though the company has the technical ability to limit Autopilot's availability by geography, it has taken few definitive steps to restrict use of the software,” the Post wrote.

The report added that regulators like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have taken no action despite having opened investigations.

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