The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has advanced its probe into Tesla (TSLA) vehicles that crashed into parked emergency vehicles. The Teslas were operating on ‘autopilot’ – the company’s partially automated driving systems.
This advancement of the probe to an engineering analysis means that over 830,000 vehicles could be recalled if the investigation deems so.
The safety administrator says there are 16 reports of vehicle crashes into emergency vehicles and trucks with warning signs that led to multiple injuries and one death. The data and car performance will be evaluated further to gauge the extent to which the autopilot and related systems may contribute to safety risks that undermine the driver’s supervision ability.
Importantly, according to the investigating agency, drivers misusing the driver monitoring system “or operation of a vehicle in an unintended manner does not necessarily preclude a system defect.”
The probe had initially begun in August 2021. In the case of engineering analysis, the agency concludes if there should be a recall or to conclude the probe in what is usually a one-year time frame.
Further, for May, Tesla has seen the production at its Shanghai unit jump nearly 200% to 33,544 vehicles. The company is looking to produce over 71,000 vehicles at the plant in June.
Wall Street’s Take
Meanwhile, the Street is cautiously optimistic about the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 16 Buys, nine Holds, and six Sells. The average Tesla price target of $939.03 implies 33.8% upside potential.
UBS’ four-star analyst Patrick Hummel, on the other hand, sees a 56.4% upside potential in the stock, with a Buy rating and a $1,100 price target. Hummel is upbeat on the stock, owing to a robust order backlog, promising operational outlook, and the ramp-up of two new gigafactories.
Bloggers Remain Bullish
Moreover, TipRanks data indicates blogger sentiment remains bullish about Tesla. 76% of blogger opinions are bullish about the stock versus the sector average of 70%.
Closing Note
The extended probe virtually covers all the Teslas on the road since 2014. Nonetheless, the Street sees massive gains in the stock, which should continue to shore up investor confidence after the 40% drop in share price so far in 2022.