US OPENS PROBE INTO TESLA LETTING DRIVERS PLAY VIDEO GAMES WHILE DRIVING

Thu 23 December 2021:

Following claims that Tesla permitted games to be played on the front center touchscreen while driving, the US has opened a formal investigation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is leading the investigation, which affects around 580,000 electric cars and SUVs from model years 2017 to 2022.

The function, called “Passenger Play,” the agency claimed in a document posted online Wednesday that it could distract the driver and raise the danger of a crash.

NHTSA said it has “confirmed that this capability has been available since December 2020 in Tesla ‘Passenger Play’-equipped vehicles.”

The gaming feature was previously “only enabled while the car was in park mode.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has stated that it will assess many aspects of the feature, including the frequency and use scenarios of Tesla’s ‘Passenger Play.’

The game function was featured in the New York Times earlier this month, prompting the NHTSA to announce it was in talks with Tesla about it.

In December, the New York Times met with a Tesla Model 3 owner who said he realized he could play games like solitaire on his car’s touchscreen while driving.

The driver claimed he had also seen people driving Teslas while playing video games on YouTube.

“I’m astonished. To me, it just seems inherently dangerous,” he told The Times.

Tesla has so far not reacted to the development.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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