Tesla car crash in California kills driver while running on autopilot

A Tesla vehicle driving in autopilot mode crashed into a roadside barrier and caught fire in a test carried out in California – according to a report by the BBC.
April 3, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

The driver of the Model X car died soon after the incident which occurred on the 23 March 2018.

In a statement, the company confirmed that autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum. Several visual and one audible hands-on warning were sent to the driver whose hands were not detected on the steering wheel six seconds prior to the collision.

“The driver had about five seconds and 150 metres of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken,” the statement added.

The severity of the crash is believed to have been the result of the crash attenuator’s state at the time of the accident. The highway safety barrier, which aims to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had not been replaced since being crushed in a previous accident.

Tesla’s autopilot system is said to carry out some of the functions of a fully autonomous machine such as braking, accelerating and steering under certain conditions, but operates as a driver assistance system. The company highlighted that it is not intended to work independently and that motorists are required to have their hands on the wheel at all times.

 

UTC

Related Content

  • November 6, 2019
    NTSB: Uber’s AV in fatal crash ‘had software issues’
    The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found that an Uber autonomous vehicle which killed Elaine Herzberg last year had software flaws. NTSB released a report which says the Volvo XC60’s autonomous system software classified the pedestrian as an unknown object and determined that an emergency braking manoeuvre was needed to mitigate the collision. Uber confirmed that emergency braking manoeuvres must be carried out manually and the system is not designed to alert the driver. Data
    Read More
  • September 16, 2016
    Mobileye breaks ties with Tesla on grounds of safety
    According to Reuters (link http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mobileye-tesla-idUSKCN11K2T8), Mobileye has broken ties with Tesla Motors because it felt the Silicon Valley firm was “pushing the envelope in terms of safety” with the design of its Autopilot driver-assistance system. "It is not designed to cover all possible crash situations in a safe manner," Amnon Shashua, who is also chief technology officer at the Israel-based maker of collision detection and driver assistance systems, told Reuters.
    Read More
  • August 11, 2016
    Tesla crash in China puts autonomous cars in the spotlight again
    Tesla is investigating the crash in Beijing, China last week, when a Tesla Model S in autopilot mode hit the side of a parked car. According to Reuters, Tesla said it had reviewed data to confirm the car was in autopilot mode, a system that takes control of steering and braking in certain conditions. Tesla also said it was the driver's responsibility to maintain control of the vehicle. In this case, it said, the driver's hands were not detected on the steering wheel. "The driver of the Tesla, whose h
    Read More
  • April 17, 2019
    Lyft recalls 3,000 e-bikes across US
    Ride-hailing company Lyft has recalled 3,000 electric bikes from cities in the US because of concerns over their braking systems. The brands affected are Citi Bike in New York, Capital Bikeshare in Washington, DC, and the Bay Area’s Ford GoBike. A similar statement on each company’s website says: “We recently received a small number of reports from riders who experienced stronger than expected braking force on the front wheel. Out of an abundance of caution, we are proactively removing the pedal-assi
    Read More

Highlighted Content