Tesla Autopilot Defect Probe Spirals as US Reviews 191 Crashes

US authorities escalated an investigation into whether Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot is defective and revealed they’ve reviewed almost 200 crashes involving vehicles using the driver-assistance technology.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Thursday its preliminary evaluation of how Tesla Autopilot handles crash scenes with first-responder vehicles warrants further review and upgraded the probe. Since opening the inquiry almost 10 months ago, NHTSA has reviewed a much broader set of collisions beyond Teslas running into fire trucks and police cars.

The agency has sifted through the circumstances of 191 crashes involving Tesla vehicles operating some version of Autopilot. In roughly ...