German Transport Ministry Deems Tesla Autopilot A 'Traffic Hazard'

Der Spiegel, a German weekly magazine, claims to have seen an internal report for the German Transport Ministry that labelled the Autopilot function on Tesla Model S a "considerable traffic hazard". The magazine added that the Federal Highway Research Institute carried out tests on the electric car and chastised for a myriad of issues in its report, including for the Autopilot's failure to alert drivers when the vehicle gets into a situation that the computer cannot solve. The report also noted that the car's sensors do not detect far back enough during a passing maneuver and that the emergency brake performs inadequately.

Spiegel added that Alexander Dobrindt, German Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, was apprised of the report but did not want to take the model out of service. It must be noted the ministry told Reuters that a final evaluation regarding the Tesla Model S' Autopilot function is not yet ready and that further tests were being conducted.

Tesla's ambitious Autopilot function was introduced for its Model S and Model X electric vehicles in October 2015. However, the system has faced the ire of many following the extensive reportage of collisions involving the self-driving software. In fact, the automaker had to remove the Chinese term for "self-driving" from its China website. With that said, Tesla has maintained that upon activation of the Autopilot feature, drivers are adequately informed that it "is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times".