Elon Musk Again Promotes Texting While Using Self-Driving Feature Despite Safety, Legal Ramifications

Elon Musk has publicly endorsed texting while in control of a Tesla car with the company’s Full Self Driving (FSD) feature activated. FSD is not technically capable of fully autonomous driving, but is instead an assisted driving mode, and as such, someone must be present in the driver’s seat and must be ready to assume control at any moment. 

In a reply to a social media user on Thursday, Musk confirmed that the recently released FSD 14.2.1 update does not enforce driver attention anymore, “depending on the context of surrounding traffic”. The user had noted that his car was not flashing warnings about paying attention despite him using his phone “for an extended period of time”. Previously, Tesla cars have used their interior cameras and steering wheel sensors to ensure that drivers are focused on the road ahead, showing warnings, turning the feature off, and then disabling it altogether as distracted behaviour escalates.

Musk had stated at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in early November that Tesla was actively working on allowing people to text while driving, despite this being illegal in many parts of the world. It is unclear whether the company has engaged with regulatory bodies to establish a framework to allow legal texting while driving. 

The move to loosen restrictions on driver behaviour will likely face legal challenges, though responsibility to follow the law ultimately rests with drivers. In the US, several states have enacted bans on even looking at a phone while driving. Tesla’s own robotaxi operations in Austin, Texas, still require a safety operator in each car who is able to take over at any sign of trouble.

Tesla is likely building up a case for FSD to be considered safer than human driving. The company rolled out fresh statistics at its shareholders’ meeting, suggesting that FSD use resulted in fewer crashes and fewer fatalities in case of accidents. These figures were self-reported.

The company currently faces multiple lawsuits and is under investigation by regulatory bodies including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the USA. Tesla had to rename FSD to Full Self Driving (Assisted), and has faced legal challenges, suggesting that FSD and the less-capable Autopilot feature are misleading names that encourage drivers to treat Teslas as though they are capable of fully autonomous driving. 

FSD is not yet usable in India, despite being offered for sale. Tesla has been hiring test drivers here, likely to generate the maps and data it needs to eventually offer this functionality. Musk has also previously stated that other automakers would have no choice but to license FSD for their own cars, but admitted last week that he has had no takers so far.