It seems that Tesla and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board haven't been seeing eye to eye lately, following the fatal crash of a Model X in California last month. Now, according to Tesla, the automaker has withdrawn from its prior agreement with the NTSB over disagreements in fundamental disclosure practices.

By withdrawing from the agreement, Tesla will reportedly be able to release information to the public about the accident instead of being confined to silence while the investigation completes. In a time when autonomy is under fire from the public and press, the electric automaker understands the need to be transparent with people over its Autopilot system, especially since it was revealed to be enabled during the fatal Model X crash.

“Today, Tesla withdrew from the party agreement with the NTSB because it requires that we not release information about Autopilot to the public, a requirement which we believe fundamentally affects public safety negatively," a Tesla spokesperson told The Drive, "We believe in transparency, so an agreement that prevents public release of information for over a year is unacceptable. Even though we won't be a formal party, we will continue to provide technical assistance to the NTSB.”

Elon Musk took to Twitter earlier this month to issue a rebuttal to a statement that the NTSB issued, which stated that the board was "unhappy" that Tesla chose to break silence of the crash investigation ahead of its closure. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tesla Inc lashed out at the National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday after the agency took the unusual step of removing the automaker as a party to its investigation of a fatal crash in March in which a Tesla vehicle’s “Autopilot” system was in use.

FILE PHOTO: Rescue workers attend the scene where a Tesla electric SUV crashed into a barrier on U.S. Highway 101 in Mountain View, California, March 25, 2018. Picture taken March 25, 2018. KTVU FOX 2/via REUTERS

The NTSB’s action means Tesla may not gain access to some information obtained by the agency’s investigators before it is made public, but frees the company to vigorously defend the Autopilot technology.

The war of words on Thursday between the Silicon Valley automaker run by billionaire Elon Musk and the NTSB stood in stark contrast to efforts this week by Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi and Facebook Inc chief Mark Zuckerberg to defuse conflicts with regulators.

Tesla “violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB,” the safety board said in a statement. Releasing incomplete information often leads “to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash, which does a disservice to the investigative process and the traveling public,” the agency said.

Tesla in return blasted the NTSB, saying the company chose on Tuesday to withdraw from the agreement as a formal party before the agency revoked its status.

Tesla said it had “been clear in our conversations with the NTSB that they’re more concerned with press headlines than actually promoting safety” and accused the agency of violating its own rules while trying to prevent Tesla from disclosing all the facts.

“We don’t believe this is right and we will be making an official complaint to Congress,” Tesla added, saying it would make an open records request to “understand the reasoning behind their focus on the safest cars in America while they ignore the cars that are the least safe.”

NTSB spokesman Christopher O’Neil said the agency declined to comment on Tesla’s allegations.

The NTSB has three pending probes into Tesla crashes.

Tesla’s initial statement announcing its withdrawal did not disclose that the NTSB was revoking its status.

Driver Walter Huang died after a March 23 crash and vehicle fire in a Tesla Model X near Mountain View, California, prompting investigations by the NTSB and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Tesla’s announcement late on Wednesday in California came after the company publicly blamed the driver for the crash and made statements about the incident that drew criticism from the NTSB.

Autopilot is a semi-autonomous system that handles some driving tasks. Tesla has said it warns drivers that they are always responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said in a statement he was “troubled by Tesla’s reckless disregard of its legal obligations to NTSB - potentially compromising NTSB’s ability to conduct a thorough and robust investigation into the company’s flawed Autopilot system.”

AUTOPILOT

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told Reuters on Tuesday the agency had a good working relationship with Tesla but that companies must follow the rules. He and Musk spoke on Friday and again on Wednesday when he told the company it was revoking its status.

“It is unfortunate that Tesla, by its actions, did not abide by the party agreement,” Sumwalt said in the NTSB statement on Thursday. Tesla said that “even though we won’t be a formal party, we will continue to provide technical assistance to the NTSB.”

Huang’s family said on Wednesday it had hired law firm Minami Tamaki LLP to explore legal options, adding the firm believed the Autopilot feature probably caused his death. The firm said its preliminary review of the crash suggested Autopilot was defective.

The NTSB has not disclosed any findings.

Tesla has said Huang had activated Autopilot and it was in operation at the time of the crash. Vehicle logs from the accident showed no action was taken by Huang before the crash and that he had received warnings from the system to put his hands on the wheel, the company said.

FILE PHOTO: A Tesla dealership is seen in West Drayton, just outside London, Britain, February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

Tesla said the Autopilot system always reminded drivers to be alert and keep their hands on the wheel.

The NTSB confirmed earlier this week it had two other pending investigations of Tesla crashes, including an August 2017 Tesla battery fire in Lake Forest, California, after an owner lost control and ran the vehicle into his garage. The investigation into that fire was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday.

The agency previously faulted Tesla in a 2016 fatal crash in Florida in which Autopilot was engaged. Sumwalt said in 2017 that “system safeguards were lacking” and “Tesla allowed the driver to use the system outside of the environment for which it was designed and the system gave far too much leeway to the driver to divert his attention.” Tesla said it had made improvements in the system since the crash. </s> Tesla Inc. withdrew from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of a fatal accident involving one of its vehicles, an unusual move that followed public statements by the company blaming the driver and breaching the agency’s protocols.

“Tesla withdrew from the party agreement with the NTSB because it requires that we not release information about Autopilot to the public, a requirement which we believe fundamentally affects public safety negatively,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We believe in transparency, so an agreement that prevents public release of information for over a year is unacceptable.”

Although Tesla won’t be a formal party to the probe, the company said it will continue to provide technical assistance to the NTSB.

Tesla issued a statement this week in response to a local television appearance by the family of Walter Huang, a 38-year-old who died last month in his Model X using the driver-assistance system Autopilot. The company said the “only” explanation for the crash was “if Mr. Huang was not paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so.”

It was the third time the company has commented on the Huang incident. In a March 30 blog post, Tesla said that the Model X driver’s hands weren’t on the steering wheel for six seconds prior to the fatal crash. An NTSB spokesman said the agency was “unhappy” with the company for disclosing details during the investigation.

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt spoke by phone over the weekend and had what an agency spokesman said was a constructive conversation.

The NTSB is looking into the crash that killed Huang, as well as a collision in January involving a Tesla Model S that was using Autopilot when it rear-ended a fire truck parked on a freeway near Los Angeles.

The stakes for Tesla’s bid to defend Autopilot are significant. The NTSB’s investigation of the March 23 crash involving Huang contributed to a major selloff in the company’s shares. Musk claimed almost 18 months ago that the system will eventually render Tesla vehicles capable of full self-driving, and much of the value of the $51 billion company is linked to views that it could be an autonomous-car pioneer.

The NTSB guards the integrity of its investigations closely, demanding that participants adhere to rules about what information they can release and their expected cooperation. These so-called parties to investigations must sign legal agreements laying out their responsibilities.

The safety board has in some cases thrown airlines, aircraft manufacturers and unions off of investigations in cases where they were either making unauthorized statements or not producing information the NTSB expected of them.

Because it’s a relatively small agency with a limited numbers of employees, the NTSB relies heavily on these parties to assist its investigations. The safety board has subpoena power that it’s used in rare instances to compel companies involved in investigations to provide information. </s> DETROIT — Federal safety investigators have booted electric car maker Tesla Inc. from the group investigating a fatal crash in California that involved an SUV operating with the company’s Autopilot system.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday it removed Tesla as a party to the investigation after the company prematurely made information public.

“Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB,” the agency said in a statement. “Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash.”

On Thursday afternoon, Tesla issued a statement claiming that it withdrew from the agreement two days earlier after being told that it would be removed if it made additional statements before the NTSB finished its probe in the next 12 to 24 months.

The company said it released information on the crash to correct “misleading” claims being made about Autopilot creating safety problems. Tesla said it would file a complaint with Congress and accused the agency of being more concerned with “press headlines” than promoting safety.

Removing a party to an investigation is rare but has happened in the past, according to the agency. Companies and other organizations can become parties in a probe because they can give technical help and share sensitive information.

The move means that the NTSB and Tesla will no longer share information about the March 23 crash of a Tesla Model X SUV on U.S. 101 near Mountain View in Silicon Valley. The driver, Walter Huang, 38, a software engineer for Apple, was killed in the crash.

In a statement on March 30, Tesla confirmed that the semi-autonomous Autopilot system was operating at the time of the crash and seemed to blame the crash on Huang. The company said Huang didn’t have his hands on the steering wheel for six seconds before the impact and also received several warnings from the vehicle.

Shortly after Tesla released the information, NTSB spokesman Christopher O’Neil said the agency was “unhappy” about the disclosure.

Tesla tells drivers that its Autopilot system, which uses cameras, radar and computers to keep speed, change lanes, self-park and automatically stop vehicles, requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel in order to take control to avoid accidents.

The Palo Alto, California, company said its vehicle logs showed Huang took no action to stop the Model X from crashing into a concrete lane divider. Photographs of the SUV show that the front of the vehicle was demolished; its hood was ripped off; and its front wheels were scattered on the freeway.

The vehicle also caught fire, though Tesla said no one was in the vehicle when that happened. The company said the crash was made worse by a missing or damaged safety shield on the end of the lane divider that is supposed to help shield cars from any impact.

The NTSB, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, are looking into the crash, as well as another Tesla crash in January near Los Angeles in which a Model S sedan smashed into a fire truck parked on a freeway.

Tesla would not say whether the Model S in that crash was operating on Autopilot.

In the crash that killed Huang, a Tesla spokeswoman would not directly answer questions about why the SUV didn’t spot the barrier and stop before the collision.

The spokeswoman referred to a statement saying that Tesla owner’s manuals have warnings and notifications stating that a driver should not depend on the car’s autosteer system to pick the right driving path. It also says automatic emergency braking “is not designed to avoid a collision and is not a substitute for maintaining a safe travelling distance between you and the vehicle in front of you.”

In its statement Thursday, Tesla says there is one auto death in the U.S. for every 86 million miles driven, but for Tesla vehicles, it’s only one death for every 320 million miles.

The company also accused the NTSB of focusing on the “safest cars in America” while ignoring less-safe vehicles. </s> Federal investigators say they have booted electric car maker Tesla Inc. from a group that’s investigating a fatal crash in California that involved an SUV using the company’s Autopilot system.

DETROIT — Federal investigators say they have booted electric car maker Tesla Inc. from a group that’s investigating a fatal crash in California that involved an SUV using the company’s Autopilot system.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it removed Tesla as a party to the investigation after the company prematurely made information public.

“Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB,” the agency said in a statement. “Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash.”

Tesla, however, disputed the claim and said it withdrew from the agreement two days earlier, after being told that it would be removed if it made additional statements before the NTSB finished its probe in the next 12 to 24 months.

The company said it released information to correct “misleading” claims being made about Autopilot creating safety problems. In a statement about the escalating dispute, Tesla said it would file a complaint with Congress and accused the NTSB of being more concerned with “press headlines” than promoting safety.

Removing a party to an investigation is rare but has happened in the past, according to the agency. Companies and other organizations can become parties in a probe because they can give technical help and share sensitive information.

The move means that the NTSB will no longer share information about the March 23 crash of a Tesla Model X SUV on U.S. 101 near Mountain View in Silicon Valley. The driver, Walter Huang, 38, a software engineer for Apple, was killed in the crash.

In a statement on March 30, Tesla confirmed that the semi-autonomous Autopilot system was operating at the time of the crash and seemed to blame the crash on Huang. The company said Huang didn’t have his hands on the steering wheel for six seconds before the impact and also received several warnings from the vehicle.

Shortly after Tesla released the information, an NTSB spokesman said the agency was “unhappy” about the disclosure.

Tesla tells drivers that its Autopilot system — which uses cameras, radar and computers to keep speed, change lanes and automatically stop vehicles — requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel in order to take control to avoid accidents.

The Palo Alto, California, company said its vehicle logs showed Huang took no action to stop the Model X from crashing into a concrete lane divider. The company said the crash was worsened by a missing or damaged safety shield on the end of the lane divider.

The NTSB, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is looking into the crash, as well as another Tesla crash in January near Los Angeles in which a Model S sedan smashed into a firetruck parked on a freeway. Tesla would not say whether the Model S in that crash was operating on Autopilot.

David Friedman, a former NHTSA acting administrator who now is director of cars and product policy for Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, said the Tesla-NTSB spat could delay the investigation if the agency doesn’t have all the electronic information it needs from the company. The agency has legal options if Tesla isn’t forthcoming, he said, but those take time and taxpayer dollars.

The NTSB, he said, has never been focused on publicity, and it has the authority to investigate new technology like Autopilot. “If anything, the NTSB is shining a spotlight on Tesla because of their innovation,” Friedman said.

Consumers Union has called for Tesla to stop testing the cars with its buyers, and Friedman said the company shouldn’t use the name Autopilot because it implies that the cars can drive themselves.

“You should name it so that it is clear what it can and can’t do,” he said.

In the crash that killed Huang, a Tesla spokeswoman would not directly answer questions about why the SUV didn’t spot the freeway barrier and stop before the collision.

The spokeswoman referred to a statement saying that Tesla owners’ manuals have warnings and notifications stating that a driver should not depend on the car’s autosteer system to pick the right driving path. It also says automatic emergency braking “is not designed to avoid a collision and is not a substitute for maintaining a safe traveling distance” from other vehicles.

In its statement Thursday, Tesla accused the NTSB of focusing on the “safest cars in America” while ignoring less-safe vehicles. Tesla says there is one auto death in the U.S. for every 86 million miles driven, but for Tesla vehicles, it’s one death for every 320 million miles.

The NTSB makes recommendations to prevent crashes, while NHTSA has authority to fine automakers, push for recalls and seek regulations. </s> US safety investigators have booted electric car maker Tesla from the group investigating a fatal crash in California that involved an SUV operating with the company's Autopilot system.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday it removed Tesla as a party to the investigation after the company prematurely made information public.

"Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB," the agency said in a statement. "Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash."

Removing a party to an investigation is rare but has happened in the past, according to the agency. Companies and other organizations can become parties in a probe because they can give technical help and share sensitive information.

A Tesla spokeswoman had no immediate comment. </s> DETROIT — Federal safety investigators have booted electric car maker Tesla Inc. from the group investigating a fatal crash in California that involved an SUV operating with the company's Autopilot system.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday it removed Tesla as a party to the investigation after the company prematurely made information public.

"Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB," the agency said in a statement. "Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash."

Removing a party to an investigation is rare but has happened in the past, according to the agency. Companies and other organizations can become parties in a probe because they can give technical help and share sensitive information.

A Tesla spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

The move apparently means that the NTSB and Tesla will no longer share information about the March 23 crash of a Tesla Model X SUV on U.S. 101 near Mountain View in Silicon Valley. The driver, Walter Huang, 38, a software engineer for Apple, was killed in the crash.

More: How safe should we expect self-driving cars to be?

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In a statement on March 30, Tesla confirmed that the semi-autonomous Autopilot system was operating at the time of the crash and seemed to blame the crash on Huang. The company said Huang didn't have his hands on the steering wheel for six seconds before the impact and also received several warnings from the vehicle.

Shortly after Tesla released the information, NTSB spokesman Christopher O'Neil said the agency was "unhappy" about the disclosure.

Tesla tells drivers that its Autopilot system, which uses cameras, radar and computers to keep speed, change lanes, self-park and automatically stop vehicles, requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel in order to take control to avoid accidents.

The Palo Alto, California, company said its vehicle logs showed Huang took no action to stop the Model X from crashing into a concrete lane divider. Photographs of the SUV show that the front of the vehicle was demolished; its hood was ripped off; and its front wheels were scattered on the freeway.

The vehicle also caught fire, though Tesla said no one was in the vehicle when that happened. The company said the crash was made worse by a missing or damaged safety shield on the end of the lane divider that is supposed to help shield cars from any impact.

The NTSB, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, are looking into the crash, as well as another Tesla crash in January near Los Angeles in which a Model S sedan smashed into a fire truck parked on a freeway.

Tesla would not say whether the Model S in that crash was operating on Autopilot.

In the crash that killed Huang, a Tesla spokeswoman would not directly answer questions about why the SUV didn't spot the barrier and stop before the collision.

The spokeswoman referred to a statement saying that Tesla owner's manuals have warnings and notifications stating that a driver should not depend on the car's autosteer system to pick the right driving path. It also says automatic emergency braking "is not designed to avoid a collision and is not a substitute for maintaining a safe traveling distance between you and the vehicle in front of you." </s> Tesla Inc.'s ongoing spat with the National Transportation Safety Board over a fatal crash has reached new heights, with the electric-car maker and the safety agency releasing dueling statements. Here’s a timeline of public remarks so far by Tesla and the NTSB.

March 23: Walter Huang, a 38-year-old Apple Inc. engineer, dies after his Model X crashes into highway barrier in Mountain View, California.

March 27: The NTSB sends two investigators to the crash scene and notes on Twitter: “Unclear if automated control system was active at time of crash.”

March 27: Tesla releases its first blog post, “What We Know About Last Week's Accident,” saying it hasn’t been able to retrieve computer logs from Huang’s vehicle and blames the damaged highway safety barrier for the severity of the crash. Tesla also claims the U.S. government found a year ago that Autopilot reduced crash rates by 40 percent, a characterization of data from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report that some safety experts call misleading. “Out of respect for the privacy of our customer and his family, we do not plan to share any additional details until we conclude the investigation,” Tesla writes.

March 30: Tesla releases a second blog post late on Friday night that acknowledges its driver-assistance software, Autopilot, had been engaged at the time of the crash. “The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision,” Tesla writes.

April 1: An NTSB spokesman tells reporters that the agency is “unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla.” The agency’s protocols require companies who are a party to an agency accident investigation to not release details about the incident to the public without NTSB's approval.

April 9: NTSB discloses agency Chairman Robert Sumwalt spoke to Musk over the preceding weekend. An agency spokesman said Sumwalt described the conversation as “very constructive.”

April 10: Tesla puts out a statement that faults Mr. Huang and denies moral or legal liability for the crash.

“According to the family, Mr. Huang was well aware that Autopilot was not perfect and, specifically, he told them it was not reliable in that exact location, yet he nonetheless engaged Autopilot at that location. The crash happened on a clear day with several hundred feet of visibility ahead, which means that the only way for this accident to have occurred is if Mr. Huang was not paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so.”

April 11: Tesla says it has withdrawn from its party agreement with the NTSB: “We believe in transparency, so an agreement that prevents public release of information for over a year is unacceptable.”

April 12: NTSB releases a statement saying it had removed Tesla as a party to its crash investigation. “The NTSB took this action because Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB.” The agency also releases a letter from its chairman to Musk.

April 12: Tesla releases another statement, again claiming to have withdrawn from its agreement with the NTSB.

“It’s been clear in our conversations with the NTSB that they’re more concerned with press headlines than actually promoting safety. Among other things, they repeatedly released partial bits of incomplete information to the media in violation of their own rules, at the same time that they were trying to prevent us from telling all the facts. We don’t believe this is right and we will be making an official complaint to Congress. We will also be issuing a Freedom Of Information Act request to understand the reasoning behind their focus on the safest cars in America while they ignore the cars that are the least safe. Perhaps there is a sound rationale for this, but we cannot imagine what that could possibly be.” </s> (Reuters) - The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday it will investigate a Tesla accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this week that killed two teenagers and injured another - the agency’s fourth active probe into crashes of the company’s electric vehicles.

The NTSB said it was sending a team of four to investigate Tuesday’s crash of a 2014 Tesla Model S that was reportedly traveling at high speed when it struck a wall and caught fire. The agency said it does not believe the Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot system will be part of the investigation.

This investigation is “primarily focus(ed) on emergency response in relation to the electric vehicle battery fire, including fire department activities and towing operations,” the agency said.

A preliminary investigation showed the Tesla drove off the road and hit a concrete wall, immediately catching fire, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department said in a statement. The speed of the vehicle is believed to have been a factor in the crash, the police said.

Tesla Inc did not immediately comment. Shares of the company closed up at $306.85 up 1.6 percent and were off less than 0.5 percent in afterhours trading.

The new investigation adds to an already contentious relationship between the company and the agency.

Last month, Tesla lashed out at the NTSB after it took the unusual step of removing the automaker from the investigation of a fatal crash in March in which a Tesla vehicle’s driver-assistance Autopilot system was in use.

The NTSB defended the decision, saying Tesla released investigative information prematurely and in violation of procedure.

Tesla in return blasted the NTSB, saying the board was “more concerned with press headlines than actually promoting safety.” It accused the agency of violating its own rules while trying to prevent Tesla from disclosing all the facts.

The NTSB is also investigating an August 2017 Tesla battery fire in Lake Forest, California, after an owner lost control and ran the vehicle into his garage and a January crash of a Tesla vehicle apparently traveling in Autopilot that struck a fire truck in California. </s> The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the fatal crash of a Tesla Model S that burst into flames after colliding with a concrete wall in Florida on Tuesday, the agency said, announcing its fourth active probe into a collision involving vehicles made by Tesla Inc.

Two people were killed in the accident, and a team of four NTSB investigators will look into it. The agency does not anticipate that Tesla’s Autopilot package of driver-assistance technologies will be part of the new probe, according to a press release. Investigators will primarily focus on how firefighters and others responded to electric car’s battery fire caused by the crash, the agency said Wednesday.

Speed is believed to be a factor in the accident, in which a 2014 Model S “immediately caught on fire, becoming fully engulfed in flames” after driving off a roadway and hitting a concrete wall, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department said in a press release Wednesday.

“NTSB has a long history of investigating emerging transportation technologies, such as lithium ion battery fires in commercial aviation,” NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said in a statement. “The goal of these investigations is to understand the impact of these emerging transportation technologies when they are part of a transportation accident.”

The Tesla’s driver and front-seat passenger were pronounced dead at the scene, the police said, adding that a rear-seat passenger was taken to a hospital after being ejected from the vehicle upon impact.

The inquiry is the NTSB’s fourth active investigation of Tesla vehicle crashes and the third of a crash-related fire. The agency is probing the March 23 crash of a Model X that caught fire after hitting a highway barrier in Mountain View, California, that killed the vehicle’s driver. Another Model X SUV that caught fire after crashing into a garage in August 2017 is also under investigation.

An accident involving a Model S that ran into a parked firetruck on a freeway near Los Angeles in January is also under investigation.

Read more: Musk hung up on NTSB chief in April
Tesla Inc. withdraws from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's probe of a fatal Model X crash in California. Tesla had drawn the NTSB's ire by releasing information publicly about its view of the case and about the car's Autopilot feature, something the Board does not allow during active investigations.