A Tesla Driver Has Died In The First Ever Fatal Crash For A Self-Driven Car

The NHTSA is investigating Tesla, after a Model S failed to prevent a fatal accident with Autopilot enabled
A Tesla Driver Has Died In The First Ever Fatal Crash For A Self-Driven Car

Tesla has revealed that a Model S driver died in an accident on 7 May while Autopilot was activated, in what’s thought to be the first fatal crash involving an autonomous vehicle. The driver - 40-year-old Joshua D. Brown - was on a divided highway in Williston, Florida, when a tractor pulled out, at which point neither Brown nor Autopilot reacted.

The Model S passed under the tractor’s trailer, with the bottom of the trailer hitting the windscreen. The car then continued down the road, before leaving the highway and hitting a fence. He died at the scene.

In a statement released on Thursday, Tesla said that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has started a “preliminary evaluation” into the performance of Autopilot during the crash. “This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated,” Tesla said, adding, “Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles.”

Brown was well known in the Tesla community, and just a month before the fatal crash had posted a video on YouTube (below) of Autopilot successfully averting an accident. The video quickly clocked a million views.

Remote video URL

Tesla’s Autopilot is at the moment intended to be a driver assist, and more of a ‘semi-autonomous’ mode that requires the driver to be holding the steering wheel at all times. In the statement Tesla notes that “Autopilot is getting better all the time, but it is not perfect and still requires the driver to remain alert,” but that hasn’t stopped some well-documented abuses of the system. It’s been heavily criticised in some corners for lulling its users into a false sense of security. Earlier this year, a senior Volvo engineer slammed Autopilot, labelling it an “Unsupervised wannabe” that “Gives you the impression that it’s doing more than it is.”

At this early stage of the investigation, it’s not known exactly why Brown didn’t brake himself. Tesla’s statement speculates that he simply did not see “The white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky,” however in a report in the Associated Press, the 62-year-old driver of the tractor claimed to have heard one of the Harry Potter films playing from the car at the crash scene. Tesla responded to the claims, stating that it isn’t possible to watch videos on the main screen found in the Model S.

Find out more about how Autopilot works by watching our video below:

Remote video URL

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Comments

JpCharisma

Of course it’s in Florida the first autopilot car dies…

07/01/2016 - 12:08 |
0 | 0
ST1G_of_INA

I think that Clarkson’s Statements on (old) TG is already answered with this crash

07/01/2016 - 12:21 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Why would you buy an expensive car if you yourself don’t want to drive it in the first place? I would rather hire a driver than showing off with an autopilot.

07/01/2016 - 12:22 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Everybody is making such a big deal out of this. Did nobody see the part about one fatal crash every 130 million miles for autopilot compared to every 94 million miles for cars without? RIP but the autopilot failed once in 130 million miles. Get over it.

07/01/2016 - 12:22 |
0 | 0
luc081100

Automotive driving isn’t sorted out yet

07/01/2016 - 12:23 |
0 | 0
FT Car ~ (Iftikhar)

It would be pretty safe if humans dont trust the computers to drive them to destinations

07/01/2016 - 12:26 |
4 | 0

Honestly it would be safer if computers drove everyone and no humans were in control. I don’t want that, but it would be.

07/01/2016 - 14:39 |
0 | 0
Tom J

I despise the idea of autonomous vehicles. They are relaxing and probably make for a delightful driving experience, but becoming overly reliant is dangerous. I don’t care for how complex the programming is for such a system, I’d rather myself control a 1-2 tonne hunk of metal. Plus autonomous cars ain’t eva gonna hit that red line bro.

07/01/2016 - 12:38 |
0 | 0
Clutch63

Pretty disrespectful for the video you guys made to be at the bottom of such a somber article.

07/01/2016 - 12:42 |
3 | 0
H5SKB4RU (Returned to CT)

Me right now speaking with a tesla fanboy…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HbjOigUqDVw

Autopilot is a experimental feature that should be temporarily banned from cars, you don’t test new wsafety systems on people, you test them on crash dummies

07/01/2016 - 12:42 |
0 | 0
Damethias Taipari

Elon Musk is the founder of tesla. Yet he only sends condolences?? Wtf

07/01/2016 - 12:44 |
0 | 0