Prolific hacker George Hotz has called off the production of an add-on self-driving car product. The offering, known as Comma One, would have enabled cars to operate semi-autonomously.
After receiving a special order from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Hotz is no longer offering the product.
The order by the NHTSA asked Hotz to submit detailed answers to 15 questions regarding the working of the Comma One. The letter expressed the NHTSA's reservation about the product and its impact on the safety of the customers and other road users. Geohot was given the deadline of November 10 to answer the query.
Comma.ai, the company behind Comma One, was started in 2015. The company's founder Hotz reportedly fitted his personal car, an Acura ILX, with a homemade hardware and software system. Consequently, he was able to drive the car autonomous on freeways. Ars Technica reported that Hotz was offered a job by Tesla, but the hacker turned down the job on account of Tesla's collaboration with Mobileye.
Hotz planned to sell the product at $999 apiece. However, after receiving the communique from the regulators, the developer tweeted his decision to cancel the product. He stated that he would instead devote his time to building new technology, rather than dealing with lawyers and regulators. He pointed that the regulators did not initiate any dialogue and "never asked for a test drive."
Hotz provided the details of the products at TechCrunch Disrupt last month. The device is designed to work with a vehicle's existing cameras, sensors, and other technologies to carry out functions such as controlling acceleration and brakes.