DETROIT — U.S. highway safety regulators have closed an investigation into Tesla for allowing video games to be played on a central touchscreen while the vehicle is in motion.
U.S. Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document posted on Tuesday. Under pressure from authorities, Tesla said it disabled a feature called “passenger play” in an online software update in December 2021.
In a statement, the agency said removing “passenger play” addressed concerns about distracted driving that the feature could cause.
of Software update covers over 580,000 vehicles From 2017 to 2022 models.
A month after rolling out the software update, Tesla reported that 97% of its vehicles had received the update.
the agency said started an investigation After acquisition, in December 2021 Complaints from Tesla Owners This means that the driver may be able to play games while the vehicle is in motion. A study was initiated to assess potential driver distraction.
The document states that having non-driving-related graphical content in the driver’s line of sight “may increase the driver’s visual and cognitive distraction.”
Tesla responded that the feature was designed for passenger use only and that its design does not pose an undue distraction risk to drivers. The company said it has not reported any crashes during the year the feature has been in use.
In a statement, NHTSA wrote that data received from Tesla showed that “Passenger Play” was active during a small number of vehicle trips during the year it was in operation. The agency did not specify how many trips were taken, but said that about a third of those trips involved the feature being used while the vehicle was in motion with no passenger in the passenger seat.
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