Overview
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation opened a preliminary probe on Monday into Comma.ai devices after reports of five crashes that share a similar pattern.
- ODI says two of the crashes were fatal, resulting in three deaths, and four crashes produced injuries to as many as 11 people.
- Preliminary agency data indicates the systems were powered on or engaged in several collisions and may not have adequately detected or reacted to slow or stopped vehicles in the same lane.
- Investigators are checking what software ran on each vehicle because some incidents, including at least one fatal February crash in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, involved third‑party forks such as FrogPilot; Comma.ai says it has provided requested data but that forks limit its control.
- The case raises a practical challenge for regulators because openpilot is open‑source aftermarket Level 2 driver assistance software that requires drivers to be ready to retake control, and that mix of community forks, hardware retrofits, and past NHTSA frictions could complicate remedies or enforcement.