NHTSA Probes Comma DIY Self-Driving Kit After 3 Deaths

Federal regulators opened an investigation into Comma AI's aftermarket self-driving kits after five crashes linked to Openpilot killed three people.

The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation has opened an inquiry into comma.ai's aftermarket self-driving hardware, according to TechRadar. The agency says it is aware of five incidents involving Comma three, Comma 3X, Comma four, and the open-source Openpilot software, in which vehicles reportedly struck stopped or slowly moving cars within the same travel lane. In one incident, a vehicle using comma.ai products struck a first responder's vehicle, and the resulting crash killed three people. The agency stated: "The investigation will obtain data to verify system status for each incident and evaluate system performance and safeguards that are intended to ensure safe operation of vehicles equipped with comma devices."

What makes this unusual is how the hardware reaches the road. TechRadar notes the company claims over 30,000 drivers have run Openpilot for more than 402 million miles (650 million km). Per Futurism, the $1,000 kit lets anyone tech-savvy retrofit their car, and the probe covers roughly 30,000 kits including the Comma four.

Futurism reports the situation is more tangled because many users do not run stock software. Over the weekend, a man posting as Mike LaBarbera on X showed a Tesla Model Y driving itself on Comma Four hardware running "Sunnypilot," an Openpilot fork — someone else's custom version. The video alarmed observers; writer Cairo Smith argued, "You do not get mods on the freeway." Futurism also raises the prospect of users customizing Openpilot with AI coding tools, compounding the safety questions regulators now face.

The investigation reportedly zeroes in on Comma's marketing, per Electrek's coverage cited by Futurism. Comma's homepage promises "hands-free driving for the car you already have" with no clear mention that the driver must remain in control, while fine print states the cars require constant supervision. That tension echoes concerns raised in a TechRadar analysis, which argues companies have over-hyped autonomy and lulled drivers into treating assistance systems as full replacements for human attention — a trend also seen in a recent NBC News investigation of Tesla Full Self-Driving videos.

For now, the NHTSA says it will gather data to verify system status in each of the five incidents and evaluate the safeguards intended to keep equipped vehicles safe — a process that could reshape how aftermarket driver-assistance kits are sold and supervised. Until SAE Level 4 and 5 vehicles arrive that can handle all driving duties, TechRadar's analysis insists humans must stay in control or the trend of abusing driver-assistance tech will keep growing.