During a fatal crash that occurred with a Tesla Model 3 on March 2018, XNUMX in Delray Beach, Florida, the electric vehicle was moving with autopilot on. This was announced on Thursday by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which, among other things, investigates the circumstances of certain types of car accidents.
This is at least the third crash in the US involving a Tesla vehicle that was reported to be driving with the driver assistance system activated.
The new crash raises questions about the ability of the driver assistance system to detect hazards and raises concerns about the safety of systems that can perform driving tasks for extended periods of time with little or no human intervention, but that cannot completely replace the driver.
The preliminary NTSB report indicated that the driver engaged the autopilot approximately 10 seconds before the collision with the semi-trailer, and the system did not lock the driver's hands on the steering wheel less than 8 seconds before the accident. The vehicle was traveling at approximately 68 mph (109 km/h) on a highway with a 55 mph (89 km/h) speed limit, and neither the system nor the driver made any maneuvers to avoid the obstacle.
In turn, Tesla noted in a statement that after the driver turned on the Autopilot system, he "immediately removed his hands from the steering wheel." "Autopilot has not been used before on this trip," the company said.
Source: 3dnews.ru