DETROIT — A small maker of autonomous automobile methods might be in sizzling water with U.S. freeway security regulators over how a lot time elapsed earlier than it reported the crash of one among its check autos final fall.
The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration says in paperwork launched Monday that it’s investigating Pony.ai’s reporting of an Oct. 28 crash in Fremont, California, about two weeks after it occurred.
A software program error triggered one of many firm’s autonomous check autos to crash right into a median highway signal. Recall paperwork filed by the corporate say there have been no accidents or different property injury.
The company says it opened the investigation to see whether or not Pony.ai complied with reporting necessities beneath a basic order issued final June to all producers testing autonomous autos, or these with driver-assist methods that want human supervision.
The order to requires reporting of crashes involving accidents, air bag deployment or a automobile being towed away inside someday of getting discover of a crash. Producers should report lesser crashes involving autonomous autos on the fifteenth day of the month following the crash.
NHTSA investigation paperwork say Pony.ai reported the October crash on Nov. 12, and filed additional experiences on Nov. 17 and 29, and one other in December. It’s not clear if the airbags inflated or if the check automobile was towed.
Pony.ai, which is predicated in Fremont, mentioned in a ready assertion that it made a good-faith effort to adjust to NHTSA necessities and has been cooperating with the company. The corporate mentioned it mounted the software program the day after the crash, and that it solely affected three of the 200 autos in its fleet.
NHTSA mentioned in paperwork that the investigation was opened to find out if the corporate complied with the order “with respect to each the timeliness and accuracy of its experiences relating to the Oct. 28, 2021 crash.”
The company is utilizing the order to gather information on autonomous and partially automated autos because it considers drafting laws.