Was the Tesla autopilot the cause of a fatal accident on Saturday February 18 in the United States? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the organization in charge of road safety in the country, is interested in the crash and is asking the manufacturer for an explanation, according to the Bloomberg agency.
An accident
In this additional accident, the firefighters of Contra Costa County (California) intervened in a road accident, one of its trucks blocking traffic on the dual carriageway while waiting for the towing of the damaged vehicle. That’s when a Tesla rammed into the rescue truck.
“The driver was pronounced dead at the scene and the passenger was extricated and taken to hospital. Four firefighters were also transported for assessment”explains the Contra Costa rescue service on Twitter.
For now, there is no indication that the driver had engaged the autopilot. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s investigation is expected to shed light on the circumstances of the crash.
Precedents
The regulator has been investigating several crashes involving Teslas and rescue vehicles for nearly two years. The autopilot system could be unseated when approaching traffic incidents. After an initial investigation in August 2021, Tesla had rolled out a system update to trick the car into more accurately detecting emergency vehicles.
On February 15, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 62,758 vehicles with Full Self Driving technology needed to be updated quickly due to inherent issues with the Traffic Laws. In some cases, the autonomous driving system could act “dangerously at intersections”.