Tesla convenes safety forum
- Tesla hosts safety research day, showcasing autopilot and vehicle safety advancements.
- Tesla shares safety insights with regulators, aiming for public and owner benefits.
EV giant Tesla Inc held a “safety research day” a few weeks ago, company executive Rohan Patel confirmed in a post on X.
What Happened: The event was hosted by Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy and the Tesla vehicle engineering team and included a “broad set” of government, academic, and non-governmental organization leaders, Patel said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The executive was responding to an X user who inquired whether Tesla shares the results of its safety tests with regulatory bodies.
The day was focused on Tesla’s active and passive safety advancements including its autopilot technology, Patel said, while reiterating the company’s commitment to creating “the safest vehicles ever made.”
“We are most happy to share these learnings with regulators and researchers to get maximum benefit for the public, and not just Tesla owners,” he wrote. Patel is vice president of Public Policy and Business Development at Tesla.
“It was a really impressive event. People would be blown away by the volume of analysis, testing, simulation and calibration with real-world data that Lars and team do. They care deeply about making the safest cars possible, including with OTA updates for the existing fleet,” said Patrick Bean who works with Tesla’s Policy & Business Development.
100%. In fact a few weeks ago, @larsmoravy and the kick-ass Tesla vehicle engineering team hosted a broad set of government, academic and NGO leaders. “Safety Research Day” was focused on Tesla safety advancements both active and passive. We do everything we can to avoid a… https://t.co/FvqbzArCzt
— Rohan Patel (@rohanspatel) February 18, 2024
Why It Matters: Only last week, Tesla reiterated its commitment to safety and said, “Safety is the primary design objective for our vehicles.” The reaffirmation is likely due to recent media reports hinting towards the use of Tesla’s full self-driving beta software in the accident and subsequent death of Tesla recruiter Hans von Ohain in May 2022.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also challenged the report, saying FSD was not used on the vehicle.
“The software had unfortunately never been downloaded. I say ‘unfortunately,’ because the accident probably would not have happened if FSD had been engaged,” Musk said.