U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is discussing with Tesla Inc its software update that lets users play video games on a touch screen mounted in front of the dashboard.
Tesla added the games in an over-the-air software update sent to most of its vehicles this summer.
The agency said distracted driving accounts for a significant number of U.S. road deaths – 3,142 in 2019 alone. Safety advocates have said official figures underestimate the problem because not all distracted drivers admit the issue after crashes.
NHTSA’s guidelines “specify a test method to evaluate whether a task interferes with driver attention, rendering it unsuitable for a driver to perform while driving.”
The agency in August opened a safety investigation into Tesla’s driver-assistance system Autopilot after a series of crashes involving the system and parked emergency vehicles.
