Two U.S. senators are pressing federal regulators to launch an investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, raising alarms over how the technology behaves around railroad crossings.
Their call underscores mounting unease in Washington about the safety of advanced driver-assistance systems and comes at a time when Tesla is already facing heightened legal and regulatory scrutiny worldwide, from federal agencies at home to watchdogs and officials in Europe and Beijing.
Senators Sound the Alarm
On September 29, 2025, Senators Ed Markey (MA) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) sent a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) urging an immediate probe into Tesla’s FSD software. They argued that the company’s system has been linked to reported failures at rail crossings, where vehicles allegedly ignored warning signs, failed to recognize crossing arms, or required last-second human intervention.
The senators said that while other traffic mistakes are dangerous, rail crossings carry “a unique and catastrophic risk,” since collisions with trains can result in multiple fatalities. They urged NHTSA to evaluate whether FSD should face stricter usage limits and even suggested revisiting how Tesla markets the system.
Context: A Pattern of Legal Pressure
This latest push adds to a mounting pile of challenges for Tesla’s autonomy ambitions. In China, the automaker was recently hit with a lawsuit for failing to deliver on its Full Self-Driving hype, with owners accusing the company of overpromising and underdelivering.
Closer to home, Tesla’s FSD shortcomings have also been documented on U.S. roads. A recent crash video went viral after a Model Y collided with debris, exposing what many consider to be the system’s biggest weakness: difficulty reliably detecting objects in its path.
Tesla is also facing broader safety and labor scrutiny. The automaker was just sued for $51 million after a factory robot allegedly knocked a worker unconscious, an entirely separate case, but one that underscores concerns about how Tesla manages risk across its operations.
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Why It Matters
NHTSA already has an ongoing investigation into more than 2.4 million Teslas equipped with FSD, looking into collisions tied to poor visibility and object detection. If this new request is taken up, Tesla could face tighter restrictions on where and how FSD can be used, as well as potential recalls or mandatory software updates.
For Tesla, which has built much of its brand value around autonomy, the stakes are enormous. Any limits on FSD’s deployment could weaken the company’s pitch to investors, dent customer confidence, and give rivals like Waymo and Zoox an opportunity to gain ground in the robotaxi race.
from Autoblog News https://ift.tt/WO0SYTV
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