Another Tesla Autopilot Crash Has Wrecked A Model 3 In Greece

In what's believed to be the first case of an active Autopilot crash on European soil, a Tesla Model 3 has been wrecked after suddenly swerving off a motorway and into a crash barrier
Another Tesla Autopilot Crash Has Wrecked A Model 3 In Greece

Another day, another Tesla Model 3 story – this one could be the first reported Autopilot-engaged crash outside of North America.

The Model 3 was in northern Greece with its holidaying driver, You You Xue of California. As with this fatal Model X impact and this bizarre incident where a Model S failed to see a fire truck, Autopilot was engaged. Yet again, the driver trusted it too much and paid the price.

Another Tesla Autopilot Crash Has Wrecked A Model 3 In Greece

While travelling at 75mph (the speed limit), reports suggest that the system became confused by an exit slip-road, jerking away from the straight-ahead lane unexpectedly – and too late for the distracted Mr Xue to prevent it hitting the solid lane divider.

In a statement on his Facebook page, he has admitted looking at a navigation app on his phone with one hand on the wheel. After the early end struck his 24,000-mile-plus trip across 25 countries he wrote:

“My left hand was grasping the bottom of the steering wheel during the drive, my right hand was resting on my lap. The vehicle showed no signs of difficulty following the road up until this fork.

“As the gore point began, approximately 8m before the crash barrier and end of the fork, my Model 3 veered suddenly and with great force to the right. I was taking a glance at the navigation on my phone, and was not paying full attention to the road.

“I was startled by the sudden change in direction of the car, and I attempted to apply additional grip onto the steering wheel in an attempt to correct the steering.

“This input was too late and although I was only a few inches from clearing the crash barrier, the front left of the vehicle near the wheel well crashed into the right edge of the barrier, resulting in severe damage.”

Another Tesla Autopilot Crash Has Wrecked A Model 3 In Greece

He wasn’t harmed and the damage looks a lot worse than the impact actually was. No airbags fired. The video below shows the place where the accident happened.

Tesla’s response, a statement sent to Electrek, said what we’ve also been trying to explain. Tesla said:

Here's the video from the point of impact some 30 hours later (You You, post it on the main page if possible so as the analysis can start, or post your own video):

Posted by Thanos Tourtouras on Sunday, May 27, 2018

“Although we haven’t been able to retrieve any data from the vehicle given that the accident occurred in an unsupported area, Tesla has always been clear that the driver must remain responsible for the car at all times when using Autopilot.”

Remember: these are not self-driving cars. They can’t be trusted not to have random spasms caused by errant code. Use the sensor array as a driver backup, not a chauffeur.

Sources: AutoGreekNews and NewsAuto via CarScoops

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Comments

BenPaye(JDMSquad)(MX5Squad)(LFAsquad)(Subie Squad) (Rotary F

Im starting to worry about Tesla

05/28/2018 - 13:27 |
4 | 0
Harrison Joyce

Soon a Tesla Autopilot crash won’t be considered news. I look forward to this day. I get fed-up with people who are trusting it too much.

05/28/2018 - 13:27 |
184 | 0

It should not be news in the first place.
There are dozens of cars that have similar systems - Mercedes E-class and S-class, new Audi A6 and A8, most latest Volvos all have assistance systems very similar to Tesla’s and almost as advanced. Yet we don’t see any news that a Mercedes E-class crashed because the driver was texting while the car was steering itself (and trust me, there are many of these cases - I follow my local police twitter and they constantly have to deal with this sort of accidents). It’s just Tesla that gets all the news coverage, partly because they call the system “Autopilot” when it’s actually not (see the recent CarThrottle article about this) and partly just because they are seen as the pioneers of various driving assistant technologies. It’s not fair really that Tesla’s crashes make it into news and hundreds of cases with other manufacturers don’t.

05/28/2018 - 13:43 |
96 | 0

I have Volvo pilot assist in my XC60 and I would never trust the system fully. It performs perfectly for 85% of the time, but from time to time it will hit a glitch and I know it is my responsibility to prevent an accident during that 15% of the time. I have discovered that it always get confused at a poorly marked exit on the motorway I travel on a daily basis, which I assume is what happened here. I usually turn the system off before approaching this exit and I can assume that if I don’t intervene, the car would either smash into the crash barrier or drive into an intersection at 65 mph.

05/28/2018 - 13:52 |
40 | 0

The car is semi autonomous not fully. People still need to be aware of the road ahead

05/28/2018 - 16:34 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

Another day, another crash caused by Autopilot. I wonder how Elon will respond…wait nevermind.

05/28/2018 - 13:29 |
24 | 0
AAA Insurance

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

“FAKE NEWS BONEHEAD QUESTION NEEEEXXT”

05/28/2018 - 19:10 |
8 | 0
Anonymous

What ever happened to actually driving your car. LMFAO

05/28/2018 - 13:30 |
60 | 2
Rahul 1

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

[DELETED]

05/28/2018 - 14:30 |
0 | 0
FLixy Madfox

Another day another person relying too much on a fun gimic.

05/28/2018 - 13:35 |
24 | 0
Anonymous
05/28/2018 - 14:00 |
68 | 0
dmackster1124

I think this guy was smarter but dumber than other drivers who’ve been in autopilot drivers bc most of them weren’t paying attention, didn’t have a hand on the wheel and as a result they crashed. On the other hand this guy was on his phone and by keeping his hand on the wheel he kept the warning system from going off. It kinda goes both ways idk

05/28/2018 - 14:09 |
2 | 0
welshtoast

Soon there’ll be more Autopilot crashes than Teslas produced. Although that isn’t so hard at the current rate of production..

05/28/2018 - 14:21 |
14 | 0
Inspector

Maybe Tesla should start requiring 2 hands on the wheel on regular intervals to keep the autopilot enabled.

05/28/2018 - 14:30 |
4 | 0

It’s a genius idea, Mercedes already does that

05/28/2018 - 14:36 |
0 | 0
Destroya

You can’t go 1 week without hearing about a Tesla autopilot wreck, production line fail, or Tesla’s horrible quality control

05/28/2018 - 14:39 |
6 | 0