Vince Patton, a new Tesla owner, shows how he can play videogames while driving on a closed course in Portland earlier this month.
Photo: Gillian Flaccus/Associated Press
The top U.S. auto-safety regulator has opened an investigation into a Tesla Inc. TSLA 7.49% feature that allows people—including the driver—to play games on a touch screen while the vehicle is in motion.
The ability to play games while driving has been available for roughly a year in some vehicles and “may distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document made public Wednesday. The feature previously was only enabled while vehicles were in park, the agency said, adding it launched the probe to evaluate the potential for driver distraction.
The probe covers about 580,000 Tesla vehicles of all types and model years 2017 to present in some cases, NHTSA said.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
When a vehicle is in drive, Tesla asks those seeking to play games on the centrally located front touch screen to confirm they are a passenger. Available games include solitaire, Sky Force Reloaded and The Battle of Polytopia. Certain other games aren’t available unless the vehicle is parked.
NHTSA said it wasn’t aware of any crashes or injuries linked to the feature. The agency received a complaint about the functionality earlier this year that urged the regulator to prohibit live video and interactive web browsing on the centrally located front touch screen while Teslas are in motion.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has said he thinks entertainment will be highly desired once vehicles become autonomous. Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance system, known as Autopilot, doesn’t make vehicles autonomous.
NHTSA investigations can lead to recalls. Tesla recalled roughly 135,000 vehicles earlier this year over touch-screen failures after NHTSA urged it to do so.
The agency is also investigating Tesla’s Autopilot system after a series of crashes involving Teslas and one or more parked emergency vehicles.
Write to Rebecca Elliott at rebecca.elliott@wsj.com
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Appeared in the December 23, 2021, print edition as ‘Tesla’s Touch-Screen Videogame Feature Draws Scrutiny.’
