NHTSA Complaint #11483743 — 2017 TESLA MODEL X

We were driving down the freeway in daytime sunny weather on “autopilot” (I was actively monitoring the vehicle of course) when the car SLAMMED on the brakes for no reason. It was aggressive and fortunately I disconnected the driver assist “autopilot” and immediately pressed on the accelerator (not an intuitive action) to avoid causing an accident. There was no reason for the car to behave this way. Furthermore, Tesla updated the software recently on my vehicle. I purchased the vehicle with radar, whereby it would use the radar as an input in coordination with other information for the adaptive cruise control and auto steer. (Collectively called the “autopilot” by Tesla. This recent software update took the radar out of the equation and made my car function differently (less robust) by now only using the cameras and not the radar. The cameras on my model year are not, to my understanding, of the same capability as the cameras that Tesla is using with their newest models. Despite the cameras being older, tesla modified the vehicle via over the air software update to only utilize the cameras, again, despite the car being designed to utilize the radar as an input to the semi autonomous driving. I take great issue with Tesla retroactively reducing the capability of my semi autonomous driving and not providing a warning or a clear choice. The phantom braking I experienced was after this software update that removed the radar. It’s one thing if a driver needs to be prepared to brake, but quite another if the car brakes EXTREMELY aggressively and the driver has to rush to press the accelerator, all while startled. I work as an airline pilot and this seeming total disregard for safety, removal of radar input that the car has on board already, and lack of transparency to the driver would never be accepted in aviation. I urge the NHTSA to look into the aggressive uncommanded braking. Thank you, Stefan