The US agency in charge of regulating road safety revealed that they are probing Tesla's self-driving software systems, reports BBC.
The evaluation is being done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It covers 2.4 million Tesla vehicles manufactured in the last 8 years.
NHTSA's action is the first step toward any potential recall that the agency might seek against Tesla.
NHTSA's preliminary evaluation follows four crash reports involving the use of Tesla's "Full Self-Driving", or FSD, software.
The agency said the crashes involved reduced roadway visibility, with fog or glares from the sun.
“One of the incidents involved a Telsa fatally striking a pedestrian, and another involved someone being injured”, NHTSA said.
The purpose of the evaluation is to determine whether Tesla's self-driving system has the capability to detect and respond to reduced visibility conditions.
In its notice, the agency noted that despite the label, full self-driving is actually "a partial driving automation system".
NHTSA's announcement comes a week after Mr Musk's glitzy rollout of the Cybercab.
At the event, Musk talked about the fully autonomous robotaxi concept, which operates without pedals or a steering wheel. This would be on the market by 2027.
Having said that, some investors were not too impressed.
Since the Cybercab rollout, Tesla’s stock is down 8%.
Unlike Waymo, the self-driving venture operated by Google-parent Alphabet, Tesla's autonomous systems rely largely on cameras and artificial intelligence.
Mr Musk's approach costs less than deploying high-tech sensors like Lidar and radar, which are critical to Waymo's driverless car program.
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