Sixteen Tesla crashes are the main focus of a federal investigation into incidents by which a automobile utilizing Autopilot ran right into a stationary emergency automobile on a freeway.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary analysis in August 2021 and upgraded it to an engineering evaluation in June 2022.
All the Teslas within the circumstances underneath research had been confirmed to have been utilizing Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control. Most of the crashes had been at evening, and flashing lights, flares or cones had been deployed close to the stopped autos.
The crashes brought about one loss of life — a Tesla passenger — and 15 accidents.
The August 2021 abstract from the company’s Office of Defects Investigation included these findings:
• Collision warnings had been activated within the majority of incidents instantly earlier than impression, and Automatic Emergency Braking intervened in about half of them.
• On common, Autopilot aborted automobile management lower than 1 second earlier than the primary impression.
• Where incident video was out there, it indicated the emergency scene would have been seen to the motive force a median of 8 seconds earlier than impression.
• Data for 11 of the collisions indicated that the entire drivers had their fingers on the steering wheel and none took evasive motion 2 to five seconds earlier than impression.
The map above reveals the approximate areas of the 16 crashes. Minimal data was launched on 5 of them.
The circumstances underneath investigation:
1/ Culver City, California, Jan. 22, 2018: A Tesla Model S hit a hearth truck parked at an accident scene on Interstate 405. The hearth truck, on the left facet of the lanes, had CHP autos with flashing lights parked behind it and to the precise. No accidents had been reported.
2/ Norwalk, Connecticut, Dec. 7, 2019: As a pair of state troopers attended to a disabled automobile on Interstate 95, a Tesla Model 3 struck their parked cruiser after which the disabled automobile. The cruiser had its emergency lights on, and there have been flares on the roadway. No accidents had been reported. The Tesla driver reportedly mentioned he had put the automobile on Autopilot so he may test on his canine within the backseat.
3/ Cloverdale, Indiana, Dec. 29, 2019: A Tesla Model 3 pushed by a 25-year-old Arizona man hit a hearth truck parked on the scene of an earlier crash on Interstate 70. The Tesla driver suffered severe accidents, and his spouse was killed. The truck was badly broken, however no firefighters had been inside it on the time.
4/ West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Jan. 22, 2020: A Tesla driver bumped into the SUV of a Massachusetts state trooper who was conducting a visitors cease on Route 24. The SUV was pushed into the automobile, which had pulled over on the left facet of the visitors lanes. No accidents had been reported.
5/ Cochise County, Arizona, July 30, 2020: A 23-year-old man in a Tesla bumped into an unoccupied Highway Patrol SUV parked at an accident scene on Interstate 10 close to Benson, shoving the automobile into the again of an ambulance. The Tesla driver, from Irvine, Calif., was injured. Driving underneath the affect was suspected.
6/ Spring Hope, North Carolina, Aug. 26, 2020: A person in a Tesla hit two patrol vehicles parked in conjunction with U.S. Highway 64, the place officers had closed a lane due to a earlier accident. A state trooper pushed a sheriff’s deputy out of the way in which because the Tesla drove towards them, and no person was injured. The driver mentioned he was watching a film on his cellphone.
7/ Houston, November 2020: A Tesla struck a police automobile.
8/ Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, January 2021: A Tesla struck the crash attenuator on the again of a upkeep truck.
9/ Montgomery County, Texas, Feb 27, 2021: Police north of Houston had been conducting a visitors cease when considered one of their autos was hit by a Tesla. Several officers and a canine had been handled for minor accidents, and one other individual on the scene suffered extreme accidents. The Tesla driver was arrested on suspicion of driving underneath the affect.
10/ Lansing, Michigan, March 17, 2021: A 22-year-old man in a Tesla bumped into the parked cruiser of a state trooper who was helping after a automobile hit a deer on Interstate 96 in Eaton County. No accidents had been reported.
11/ Belmont, California, April 2021: A Tesla struck a police automobile.
12/ Miami, May 19, 2021: A Tesla ran right into a Florida Department of Transportation truck on the scene of a earlier crash on Interstate 95. The Tesla driver and two transportation division staff had been injured.
13/ San Diego, July 10, 2021: A 29-year-old girl drove her Tesla onto a stretch of Highway 56 that had been closed for the investigation of an earlier, deadly accident. Her automobile ran right into a parked and unoccupied Highway Patrol cruiser. A passenger within the Tesla was injured, and the Tesla’s driver was arrested on suspicion of driving underneath the affect.
14/ Orlando, Aug. 28, 2021: A 27-year-old man was driving his Model 3 on Interstate 4 close to Orlando at round 5 a.m. when it struck a Florida Highway Patrol automobile that was stopped on the facet of the highway whereas the trooper helped with a disabled car. The Tesla driver and the motive force of the disabled automobile suffered minor accidents. The trooper was unharmed.
15/ Petaluma, California, September 2021: No particulars listed.
16/ Desert Center, California, January 2022: No particulars listed.
Other circumstances:
• The preliminary NHTSA analysis included a crash in Laguna Beach, California, on May 20, 2018, by which a Tesla ran right into a parked and unoccupied police SUV. The police automobile suffered main injury; the Tesla driver had minor cuts. The incident was faraway from the evaluation as a result of the police automobile was parked off the highway and didn’t have its lights on.
• The visitors security company introduced in March 2023 that it was investigating a deadly crash the earlier month by which a Tesla struck a hearth truck on the scene of a previous accident on Interstate 680 in Walnut Creek, California. That crash has not been formally added to the engineering evaluation research.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”