California is evaluating whether or not Tesla Inc.’s self-driving exams require regulatory oversight, following “movies exhibiting a harmful use of that expertise” and federal investigations into Tesla automobile crashes, a state regulator mentioned.

The California Division of Motor Automobiles had mentioned that Tesla’s “full self-driving,” or FSD, beta requires human intervention and subsequently shouldn’t be topic to its laws on autonomous autos.

However the company is “revisiting that call following current software program updates, movies exhibiting a harmful use of that expertise, open investigations by the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration, and the opinions of different consultants,” the division mentioned in a letter on Friday to Lena Gonzalez, chair of the state Senate Transportation Committee.

The Los Angeles Occasions first reported the letter.

Tesla didn’t reply to a request for remark.

The EV firm has been increasing the rollout of what it describes because the “beta” of its superior driver assistant software program, FSD, sparking security issues by successfully permitting untrained drivers to check how effectively the expertise works on public roads.

Critics say Tesla was capable of keep away from state regulatory oversight by telling the Division of Motor Automobiles that its FSD options don’t make its vehicles autonomous.

The division mentioned it has notified Tesla that it “might be initiating additional assessment of the expertise of their autos, together with any growth of the present packages or options.”

“If the capabilities of the options meet the definition of an autonomous automobile in response to California regulation and laws, DMV will take steps to make sure that Tesla operates below the suitable autonomous automobile permits,” the company mentioned in an announcement.

Underneath the regulation, Tesla would want to report crashes and site visitors tickets particular to the FSD, mentioned Phil Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon College in Pennsylvania.

This could additionally “set off a driver background verify to make sure (a) good driving file,” he mentioned.

Presently, laws cowl firms like Google affiliate Waymo and Normal Motors, that are testing autonomous automobile expertise on public roads in California.

The FSD permits autos to carry out some driving duties reminiscent of lane modifications, however Tesla says the options “require a totally attentive driver.” Nonetheless, Tesla markets the expertise as “full self-driving” and might be charging as much as $12,000 for the software program.

The DMV additionally mentioned its assessment of Tesla’s use of the time period “full self-driving” is continuous.

“The DMV shares the priority held by many different security stakeholders concerning the potential for driver inattention, misunderstanding, or misuse as these techniques turn out to be extra prevalent,” it mentioned.