Despite being under intense scrutiny from regulators, Tesla Motors said it will retain the autopilot feature in its electric car models, CEO Elon Musk told reporters.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating the May crash that killed the owner of a Model S while driving on Autopilot mode.
NHTSA has requested information from the carmaker in a letter disclosed to the media earlier this week. Regulators are looking into the emergency braking and forward collision warning features that reportedly malfunctioned prior to the May 7 crash.
An NHTSA spokesman explained the request was standard, but it has not yet determined whether the Tesla cars in question were defective.
The autopilot function in Tesla cars is still labeled as a test or “beta” feature, Musk noted, so users won’t become “complacent” about the use of the technology. But customers said that the company’s warnings need to be clearer and more explicit, and that the feature did not perform as expected prior to crashes.
In response, Musk said the company will ramp up education efforts about autopilot to clients. He also maintained that the system “would save lives.”
