Tesla cars can be "tricked" into driving on Autopilot, says report

US magazine Consumer Reports has claimed that its engineers managed to "trick" a Tesla car into driving in Autopilot mode - with no one at the steering wheel. 

The engineers operated the vehicle with the inbuilt system failing to recognise that the driver's seat was unoccupied. 

The report came less than one week after an incident near Houston, Texas, where a Tesla crashed into a tree after failing to navigate a curve in the road.

The two passengers, neither of whom were in the driver's seat, were both killed.

Read more: Crash kills two in "driverless" Tesla which burned for hours

Tesla vehicles come with a partially automated system that can keep a car centred in its lane while keeping a safe distance from vehicles in front and is even able to change lanes. However, the company has said that a driver must be there at all times to intervene if necessary.

According to Consumer Reports, the engineers conducted several tests on its closed tracks in which the driver's seat was empty and found the Tesla Model Y automatically steered itself along painted lane lines without recognising that the controls were unoccupied. 

The Texas crash involved a Tesla Model S, but it also has an Autopilot function.

"In our evaluation, the system not only failed to make sure the driver was paying attention, but it also couldn't tell if there was a driver there at all," said Consumer Reports' senior director of auto testing, Jake Fisher.

"The car drove up and down the half-mile lane of our track, repeatedly, never noting that no one was in the driver's seat, never noting that there was no one touching the steering wheel, never noting there was no weight on the seat,'' he added.

Read more: VW and Microsoft team up for self-driving cars

Fisher also said that Tesla was lagging behind its competitors in terms of driver protection.

"Tesla is falling behind other automakers like GM and Ford that, on models with advanced driver assist systems, use technology to make sure the driver is looking at the road."

Summing up his report, Fisher wrote: "It was a bit frightening when we realised how easy it was to defeat the safeguards, which we proved were clearly insufficient."

Authorities in the US are still in the early stages of an investigation into the crash in Texas. Local police said that one of the two men killed was found in the passenger seat, and the other in the back.

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