According to the New York Times, NHTSA is investigating whether a recent Tesla update that allows video games to be played on its central touchscreens while a car is in motion compromises safety. Shortly after Vince Patton of Oswego, Ontario, purchased a Model 3 this past summer, he saw a video on YouTube demonstrating how 3 video games can be played on his car’s touchscreen while driving. “I thought surely that can’t be right,” he says.
He tried it in a parking lot and he was able to play a solitaire game on the touchscreen of his Model 3 while it was in motion. “I only did it for like five seconds and then turned it off,” he says. “I’m astonished. To me, it just seems inherently dangerous.” Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which coordinates state efforts to promote safe driving, tells the New York Times, “It’s a big concern if it plays in view of the driver, for sure.” Tesla, as usual, declines to respond to any press inquiries at any time on any subject. As of this moment, Tesla has not taken action to prevent video games from being played while a car is in motion. Is there any substantive difference between texting while driving and playing solitaire while driving?
A warning does appear on the touchscreen before the game starts that says, “Solitaire is a game for everyone, but playing while the car is in motion is only for passengers.” A button asks for confirmation that the player is a passenger, but the driver can play simply by touching that button. NHTSA has issued guidelines telling automakers that any in-vehicle entertainment devices should be designed so the driver cannot use them “to perform inherently distracting secondary tasks while driving.”
Four years ago, after investigating a fatal Autopilot crash, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended Tesla add an infrared camera to improve driver monitoring, but the company has not done so. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” says Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB. “We’re trying to warn the public and tell Tesla, ‘Hey, you need to put some safeguards in.’ But they haven’t.” In light of Tesla’s constant insistence that it is doing everything possible to make its cars as safe as possible, it’s behavior in the real world calls into question whether this is all about Elon Musk being pig headed. It certainly seems that way to outsiders.
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