The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requested Tesla Inc. for extra details about one in every of its autos colliding with a hearth truck in a deadly crash within the San Francisco Bay space.
The company reached out to the producer after the incident in Contra Costa County throughout the Presidents’ Day vacation weekend. The county hearth division mentioned in a Feb. 18 tweet {that a} Tesla struck one in every of its vehicles that was blocking lanes whereas responding to an earlier accident.
Four firefighters who had been within the truck when it was struck on Interstate 680 had been handled for minor accidents, mentioned Tracie Dutter, assistant chief of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.
The driver was declared lifeless on the scene, Dutter mentioned. The automotive wanted to be reduce open to take away the passenger, who was taken to the hospital.
Photos confirmed the entrance finish of the automotive was crushed and the $1.4 million ladder truck was broken.
NHTSA has spent the final 18 months investigating how Tesla’s driver-assistance system Autopilot handles crash scenes involving hearth vehicles and different first-responder autos. It’s unclear whether or not the driving force within the Contra Costa County incident — who was pronounced lifeless on the scene — was utilizing Autopilot.
A passenger within the Tesla and 4 firefighters additionally had been transported to the hospital.
NHTSA opened the primary of two energetic investigations into attainable Autopilot defects in August 2021 after nearly a dozen crashes with first-responder vehicles and vehicles.
The following month, Tesla deployed an over-the-air replace to its vehicles geared toward bettering their capability to detect emergency autos. The firm despatched that software program replace with out initiating a recall, main NHTSA’s chief counsel and head of its automobile defects division to publicly ask for technical and authorized justification.
Since then, NHTSA opened a second defect investigation associated to Autopilot, involving inadvertent braking, and escalated its probe into how the system handles crash scenes.
Autopilot and different driver-assistance techniques can have a tougher time detecting stationary autos and braking for them than navigating by visitors with different shifting vehicles and vehicles. In addition to scrutinizing this subject, NHTSA has been assessing Tesla’s strategies for monitoring drivers utilizing Autopilot and guaranteeing their engagement.
Last week, Tesla recalled nearly 363,000 vehicles which have put in software program the corporate markets as Full Self-Driving Beta, which regardless of the identify doesn’t render the autos autonomous.
The firm mentioned in its recall discover that the function may violate visitors legal guidelines earlier than drivers — who’re liable for working the automobile always — are capable of intervene.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”