NBC Boston Investigation Prompts Hill Action

It looks like NBC Boston's (WBTS) emphasis on investigative journalism has paid dividends in Washington.

Se. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has reached out to Tesla with concerns about safety flaws in Tesla's autopilot system, citing station investigation.

That report was a Nov. 11 follow-up story from investigative journalist Ryan Kath on a September incident about a driver who had fallen apparently asleep behind the unmanned wheel, as it were.

[embed]https://twitter.com/DakRandall/status/1170777292768985089[/embed]

Kath located another driver with a similar issue.

"According to a recent news report on NBC Boston, Tesla drivers have identified a variety of ways to circumvent the safety alerts and automatic shut-off feature that are designed to activate when a user of Autopilot is no longer paying attention to the road," Markey told the company, and asked for answers to a bunch of questions about safety.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.