Tesla News: Self-Driving And Reliability In Focus

This past week Tesla Motors TSLA -1.30% had to contend with some thorny issues including a critical survey from Consumer Reports and doubts about its vaunted Autopilot self-driving tech.

Reliability dings: The week started with a negative “predicted reliability” survey from Consumer Reports that claimed a “worse-than-average overall problem rate” for the Model S.  Problem areas included the drivetrain, power equipment, charging equipment, center console, and body and sunroof issues (squeaks, rattles, and leaks for the latter two).

Musk Responds: CEO Elon Musk quickly responded claiming that the survey “includes a lot of early production cars” and that the issues are “already addressed in new cars.”  He also rightly pointed out that Consumer Reports cited (in the same survey’s press release) high owner satisfaction, with 97 percent of owners expecting their next car to be a Tesla.

Mitigating factors: Also noted in the Consumer Reports press release is Tesla’s attention to customer service.  ”Almost every survey respondent made note of Tesla’s rapid response and repair time,” the press release said, adding “for its early adopters, Tesla has made a practice of overdelivering on service problems under the factory warranty.” Finally, Consumer Reports noted that Tesla has been adding complex new technologies to its cars this year and that “it’s not surprising” to see problems when this happens.

Self-driving dangers: There was also a spate of news of about Tesla’s Autopilot behaving badly.  One video shows the car lurching to the left on an exit ramp and another shows a Model S starting to veer toward an oncoming car.  What these incidents demonstrate is that Level 3 autonomous driving (when the “driver temporarily stops paying attention to the driving and, for example, texts or reads,” as described by PATH Program Manager Steven Shladover) has definitely not arrived. And that some drivers are pushing beyond the envelope of safe self-driving. Tesla, for its part, says that Autopilot does not relieve the driver of responsibility. “Tesla Autopilot functions like the systems that airplane pilots use when conditions are clear. The driver is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car.”

Source: forbes