Photo: Contra Costa County Fire Protection | Edited
The NHTSA suspects a Tesla Model S that crashed into a firetruck in California last month was operating on an automated driving system. The agency has opened an investigation into the February 18 crash that killed the Tesla driver and injured five other people, including four firefighters.
Another high-profile Tesla crash made the news on February 18. A Model S hit a firetruck shielding a crew while clearing another accident in Contra Costa County, California. It was one of many accidents involving Tesla vehicles that hit emergency vehicles. Unfortunately, the driver was killed in the crash, while the passenger was critically injured. Four firefighters on the scene also suffered minor injuries.
Authorities revealed that the truck had its lights on and was parked diagonally on the northbound lanes of Interstate 680. The firetruck was positioned to protect first responders to an earlier accident that did not result in injuries. The crash happened around 4:00 am, and it was so severe that emergency responders had to cut open the Tesla to remove the surviving passenger. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash was similar to others involving Tesla cars that collided with emergency vehicles. So we suspected the Contra Costa crash was also caused while the Autopilot was in use. Although not fully confirmed, the NHTSA suspects the same thing. The agency said on Wednesday that it is opening a new special investigation into the California crash. This comes after the NHTSA opened two other investigations into crashes involving Tesla vehicles in December last year. In all these cases, advanced driver assistance systems are suspected of having been in use.
There’s an interesting detail about the California crash, though. According to the report, the car involved was a 2014 Tesla Model S. Since Tesla fitted Autopilot hardware on its vehicles starting in September 2014, there’s a high probability that the Tesla Model S involved in the crash was built with no Autopilot capabilities at all. We’re still waiting for the investigation results to tell us whether the driver-assist feature was involved in this crash or not.
NHTSA has opened more than three dozen special crash investigations on Tesla vehicles since 2016. In roughly half of them, the cars have crashed into emergency vehicles while using advanced driver assistance systems like Autopilot or FSD. The rest are also suspected of having been caused by the same systems. If that sounds like a lot, you should know that NHTSA usually opens more than 100 special crash investigations per year into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues.
NHTSA recently upgraded a defect probe into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with Autopilot to an engineering analysis. The defect probe analyzed several Tesla crashes into parked emergency vehicles, including fire trucks. According to Automotive News, this is a necessary step before the agency could demand a recall.
Authorities revealed that the truck had its lights on and was parked diagonally on the northbound lanes of Interstate 680. The firetruck was positioned to protect first responders to an earlier accident that did not result in injuries. The crash happened around 4:00 am, and it was so severe that emergency responders had to cut open the Tesla to remove the surviving passenger. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash was similar to others involving Tesla cars that collided with emergency vehicles. So we suspected the Contra Costa crash was also caused while the Autopilot was in use. Although not fully confirmed, the NHTSA suspects the same thing. The agency said on Wednesday that it is opening a new special investigation into the California crash. This comes after the NHTSA opened two other investigations into crashes involving Tesla vehicles in December last year. In all these cases, advanced driver assistance systems are suspected of having been in use.
There’s an interesting detail about the California crash, though. According to the report, the car involved was a 2014 Tesla Model S. Since Tesla fitted Autopilot hardware on its vehicles starting in September 2014, there’s a high probability that the Tesla Model S involved in the crash was built with no Autopilot capabilities at all. We’re still waiting for the investigation results to tell us whether the driver-assist feature was involved in this crash or not.
NHTSA has opened more than three dozen special crash investigations on Tesla vehicles since 2016. In roughly half of them, the cars have crashed into emergency vehicles while using advanced driver assistance systems like Autopilot or FSD. The rest are also suspected of having been caused by the same systems. If that sounds like a lot, you should know that NHTSA usually opens more than 100 special crash investigations per year into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues.
NHTSA recently upgraded a defect probe into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with Autopilot to an engineering analysis. The defect probe analyzed several Tesla crashes into parked emergency vehicles, including fire trucks. According to Automotive News, this is a necessary step before the agency could demand a recall.
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