NHTSA Complaint #11453040 — 2016 TESLA MODEL S

- when using TACC / "autopilot", especially when cruising at speed limit on the rightmost lane of the highway, i have experienced quite some occurrences of "phantom braking". this happens especially more frequent when approaching freeway on ramps (even with no incoming vehicle) and when there is vehicle parked on the right shoulder. - the automatically actuated brake really shocked me. if i hadn't reacted quickly enough to step on the accelerator pedal, i would had been rear ended really badly. - i thought that was a one off situation, but since it happened more than once and now that this issue has become headlines, i think it needs to be seriously investigated and fixed. - i have reported this issue to TESLA. the service manager of the local service center promptly responded that unfortunately this is a software issue which is still in "beta". - vehicle did have problem with the left repeater camera which TESLA replaced as goodwill. but i believe that was not the cause of the "phantom braking" episodes. the vehicle was purchased with the (now $12k) "Full Self-Driving" package. now, almost 6 years later, the development of the software is still not done. TESLA promised to upgrade the cameras suite, but several requests of service were cancelled due to, i believe, lack of parts, and/or they need to upgrade the MCU to be able to deploy the latest FSD package. i appreciate TESLA efforts to push the boundary of ADAS to reach full autonomy. i just wish they communicate better to the early adopters and provide us all with clearer timelines (with best/worst case scenarios). (i also appreciate my local TESLA service manager for responding quickly to my initial report of concerns. i acknowledge that completely fixing the issue is beyond his control at this time.) (date provided in this report is approximate, i think TESLA can review the logs of such emergency braking occurrences)