In the morning of February 18 in the United States, a special team will investigate the incident of the Tesla accident. The Tesla crashed into the back of a fire truck parked on the side of the road in California by the NHTSA. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will investigate whether the Tesla was in Autopilot mode at the time of the crash.
The driver of the Tesla was killed and a passenger in the car was injured in the accident. The Tesla crashed into a fire brigade truck that was parked on the side of the road to easily take over the rescue mission in case of accidents. All four firemen who were in the truck at the time of the accident escaped unhurt.
Officials say that the cause of the accident is not clear. However, the possibility that Tesla was on autopilot at the time of the accident is not being ruled out. Along with this, the special investigation team will also investigate whether the driver was using intoxicating substances. It has been decided to investigate this accident amid reports that many accidents are caused by the autopilot system, which steers the vehicle forward without the driver’s intervention.
While on Autopilot, Teslas have crashed into emergency vehicles on the side of the road 15 times, the Associated Press reports. There are also indications that NHTSA may decide to conduct a general investigation into Tesla’s autonomous driving feature in this case. Tesla requires the driver to take responsibility for the vehicle’s safety before starting the self-driving feature. It is often left as a wish for the driver to intervene and make the vehicle on autopilot safe just before the accident.
In February, NHTSA had ordered a recall of 3.50 lakh Tesla cars due to concerns with the Full Self-Driving (FSD) system. This was due to the concern that the safety of vehicles using FSD would decrease. At the same time, Tesla claims that its full self-driving system is safer than humans. Now, an investigation announced by NHTSA may shed more light on the safety issues posed by driverless vehicles.
English Summary: NHTSA Suspects Tesla That Hit Firetruck In Fatal Crash Was Using Autopilot