Tesla 3 Runs Over Motorcyclist While On Auto-Pilot, Feds Open Investigation

[advrider]

Another high-publicity crash involving a Tesla electric car on auto-pilot has resulted in yet another federal investigation into the incident. This time, a Tesla 3 killed a motorcyclist while in auto-pilot mode, according to its driver.

The incident occurred in late July, near Draper, Utah, in the early hours of the morning. The Tesla 3 struck a motorcyclist who was using the high-occupancy lane; the Tesla’s driver said he did not see the motorcyclist, and obviously the auto-pilot system, if it did detect the obstacle ahead, did not avoid the Harley-Davidson and its rider.

However, also note that Tesla’s proprietary Autopilot system is not technically a 100 percent self-driving system. As per Tesla’s website:

Autopilot advanced safety and convenience features are designed to assist you with the most burdensome parts of driving. Autopilot introduces new features and improves existing functionality to make your Tesla safer and more capable over time.

Autopilot enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane.

Current Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.

So does that mean the driver is responsible for the crash, even if the auto-pilot was engaged? Those are the sort of questions that are settled in courts of law, not the pages of a motorcycle magazine…

The fallout

Of course, there are questions following an incident like this, when technology aimed at improving safety is involved in a crash. In this case, the The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it has opened an investigation into the crash. It’s the 38th such incident that NHTSA has investigated involving Tesla’s automated driving software, including three in July, 2022. We’ve seen lawsuits over these crashes before, including this fatality in 2018. It seems unlikely we’ll see any big news from the NHTSA immediately, but no doubt regulators are carefully examining this software as failures appear to ramp up.

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