US launches Tesla probe after more accidents involving full self-driving feature

US federal auto safety regulators have opened another investigation into Tesla’s full self-driving technology after dozens of incidents in which its cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and injuring people.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement dated Tuesday that it has 58 crash reports of Tesla vehicles violating traffic safety laws while operating in full self-driving mode. In reports to regulators, several Tesla drivers said the cars gave them no warning about the unexpected behavior.

The probe covers 2,882,566 vehicles, all Tesla cars equipped with Full Self-Driving technology, or FSD, of which there are two types.

A Level 2 driver assistance program, or “full self-driving (supervised),” requires drivers to pay full attention to the road. The company is still testing a different version that does not require driver intervention, something that the company’s owner and CEO, Elon Musk, promised years ago.

Watch | Self-driving Tesla versus the winding streets of Old St. John’s:

Self-driving Tesla versus the winding streets of Old Saint John

Sure, it can handle the grid-like streets of most cities, but can a self-driving car navigate the centuries-old, asymmetrical maze that is downtown St. John’s? Watch the video to find out.

The new investigation follows a host of other investigations into the FSD feature in Tesla cars, which has been blamed for several injuries and deaths. Tesla has repeatedly said the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.

Tesla is also under investigation by the NHTSA for its “paging” technology that allows drivers to tell their cars to drive to their location and pick them up, a feature that has led to some fender-bending in parking lots.

An investigation into driver-assistance features in 2.4 million Tesla vehicles was opened last year after several crashes in fog and other low-visibility conditions, including one in which a pedestrian was killed.

NHTSA began another investigation in August to look into why Tesla apparently did not report the crashes to the agency immediately as required under its rules.

Musk is under pressure to show that the latest advances in driver-assistance features have not only fixed such errors, but also made it so that good drivers don’t need to look out the window anymore.

He also recently promised to put hundreds of thousands of self-driving Tesla cars and Tesla robotaxis on the roads by the end of next year.

Tesla shares fell 1.4 percent on Thursday.