The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wants answers from Tesla for its secret Autopilot 'God Mode' that allegedly allows for fewer steering wheel nags (meaning fewer warnings to drivers to hold the wheel) when piloting the Model S, 3, X, and Y. A white hat hacker recently discovered the mode that Tesla had labeled as Elon Mode.

According to the NHTSA, relaxing what Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta's (FSDB) normally requires of the driver could be risky. It might cause greater driver inattention and failure on the driver's part to intervene if the Autopilot commits mistakes. This makes sense since we know that the FSDB is far from perfect, seeing how it already managed to crash a Tesla Model 3 into a pond after aquaplaning.

In the NHTSA's Acting Chief Counsel John Donaldson's email to Tesla Legal Senior Director Dinna Eskin, it says, "Recently, NHTSA became aware that Tesla has introduced an Autopilot configuration that, when enabled, allows drivers using Autopilot to operate their vehicles for extended periods without Autopilot prompting the driver to apply torque to the steering wheel. NHTSA is concerned that this feature was introduced to consumer vehicles and, now that the existence of this feature is known to the public, more drivers may attempt to activate it. The resulting relaxation of controls designed to ensure that the driver remains engaged in the dynamic driving task could lead to greater driver inattention and failure of the driver to properly supervise Autopilot."

The agency gave Tesla until August 25, 2023, to respond to the email and there's no evidence that it did. Of note, the consequence of failing to answer the email nets the brand a fine of up to $26,315 per day. That's quite a light sum, considering the carmaker delivered 466,140 vehicles in the second quarter of 2023 - a 46 percent year-on-year increase thanks to its price cuts months ago.

A second email from the agency directs the brand to provide the dates wherein the "God Mode" was patched into the FSDB. It also asks for the current number of vehicles that already have this feature, the steps to activate or revert it, why it was installed in the first place, and how much time this mode adds before the car nags the driver, among others.

Regardless of the relatively cheap fine, the agency, which previously issued a recall for over 360,000 vehicles with the full FSD, is serious about this. But for now, we are still in the dark as to how this development will affect the agency's current probe into the FSD and the aforementioned recall.