CARS.COM — As Tesla deals with an inquiry by safety regulators into its Autopilot feature, it has no plans to disable the technology and instead will increase efforts to educate customers on proper use of it, CEO Elon Musk told the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) in an interview.
Related: Tesla’s Musk Takes Blame for Model X Woes, Announces Door Fix
Musk said that a coming blog post will better explain how the Autopilot automated driving aids work and what the driver needs to do for proper operation. “A lot of people don’t understand what it is and how you turn it on,” Musk told the Journal.
His statements come as the company complies with a request from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigators for information about Autopilot technology and for details concerning a fatal crash in May of a Tesla Model S in Florida using Autopilot in which the driver, Joshua Brown of Canton, Ohio, was killed.
In its nine-page letter to Tesla, NHTSA gave the company until July 29 to answer certain questions and a final deadline of Aug. 26 to provide the remainder of the information.
Tesla said in a statement that the Model S fatal collision with a tractor-trailer crossing the road happened because: “Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.”
The statement also noted that the feature is disabled by default and “requires explicit acknowledgement that the system is new technology and still in a public beta phase before it can be enabled.” That acknowledgement, it said, includes an explanation that the driver must keep hands on the wheel and is responsible for maintaining control of the vehicle.
Two additional crashes, neither fatal, have been reported in the past two weeks involving Tesla Model X SUVs.
Meanwhile, Tesla has added a new, less expensive base model to the Model X line, which Musk admitted has had some troubles since its launch in fall 2015.
The Model X 60D starts at $74,000, including destination, or $9,000 below the previous entry Model X, the 75D. The 60D will have a 60-kilowatt-hour battery, which will provide similar performance, according to Tesla, but an EPA range of 200 miles versus 237 for the 75D.