Liam Denning, Columnist

Tesla’s EV Recall Is Bad for Its Robocar Rivals

Musk’s repeated, grandiose promises about autonomous driving have set unrealistic expectations for the industry.

December 13, 2023 at 6:45 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

Under scrutiny.
Photographer: Patrick T Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

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Having virtually all of your company’s vehicles on US roads recalled over a long-running safety problem seems like it would be bad for your company. Unless you are Tesla Inc. In which case, it is more of a problem for your competitors.

Tesla just filed a recall report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for about two million vehicles, its biggest ever. The regulator determined that Tesla’s driver-assistance system, dubbed Autopilot, doesn’t do enough to ensure drivers remain engaged and don’t misuse the system. Tesla plans an over-the-air software update that will install more controls and warnings.