In a news release today, the NTSB has announced removal of Tesla as a party to the NTSB's investigation of the March 23 fatal crash of a 2017 Tesla Model X near Mountain View, California. The decision comes after the NTSB says Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted by the NTSB.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt states in the release:
"It is unfortunate that Tesla, by its actions, did not abide by the party agreement," said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt. “We decided to revoke Tesla's party status and informed Mr. Musk in a phone call last evening and via letter today. While we understand the demand for information that parties face during an NTSB investigation, uncoordinated releases of incomplete information do not further transportation safety or serve the public interest."
In a classic "you can't fire me, I quit!" style move, Tesla told CNBC that it withdrew from the NTSB investigation. In a statement on Tuesday, Tesla said:
"Last week, in a conversation with the NTSB, we were told that if we made additional statements before their 12-24 month investigative process is complete, we would no longer be a party to the investigation agreement. On Tuesday, we chose to withdraw from the agreement and issued a statement to correct misleading claims that had been made about Autopilot — claims which made it seem as though Autopilot creates safety problems when the opposite is true."
Personally I wish Tesla would admit that their "Autopilot" system, is poorly named, and in my opinion, is not advanced enough for use yet. As we saw earlier this month, when another Tesla driver nearly recreated the fatal crash from March. Thanks to cageymaru for the story.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt states in the release:
"It is unfortunate that Tesla, by its actions, did not abide by the party agreement," said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt. “We decided to revoke Tesla's party status and informed Mr. Musk in a phone call last evening and via letter today. While we understand the demand for information that parties face during an NTSB investigation, uncoordinated releases of incomplete information do not further transportation safety or serve the public interest."
In a classic "you can't fire me, I quit!" style move, Tesla told CNBC that it withdrew from the NTSB investigation. In a statement on Tuesday, Tesla said:
"Last week, in a conversation with the NTSB, we were told that if we made additional statements before their 12-24 month investigative process is complete, we would no longer be a party to the investigation agreement. On Tuesday, we chose to withdraw from the agreement and issued a statement to correct misleading claims that had been made about Autopilot — claims which made it seem as though Autopilot creates safety problems when the opposite is true."
Personally I wish Tesla would admit that their "Autopilot" system, is poorly named, and in my opinion, is not advanced enough for use yet. As we saw earlier this month, when another Tesla driver nearly recreated the fatal crash from March. Thanks to cageymaru for the story.