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After Tesla Autopilot Updates, Crashes Continue

NHTSA to look at the effectiveness of software update meant to keep drivers' eyes on the road
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 26, 2024 10:12 AM CDT
After Tesla Autopilot Updates, Crashes Continue
Customers look over a Tesla Model Y Long-range on display at the Tesla Gallery on Feb. 24, 2021, in Troy, Mich.   (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

The driver of a Tesla that struck and killed a motorcyclist near Seattle claims he was using the vehicle's Autopilot system, which experts say lacks adequate safety measures, even after a recent recall. The 56-year-old driver of the 2022 Tesla Model S told authorities he looked at his cellphone while the vehicle was in Autopilot. "The next thing he knew there was a bang and the vehicle lurched forward as it accelerated and collided with the motorcycle in front of him," a Washington State Patrol trooper writes in an affidavit. The driver said the Tesla got stuck on top of the motorcyclist, 28-year-old Jeffrey Nissen, who was declared dead at the scene, per the Seattle Times.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide "based on the admitted inattention to driving," the affidavit reads, per the AP. Washington State Patrol has not yet verified whether the vehicle was in Autopilot at the time of the crash, around 3:45pm on April 19. If it was, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration "should be looking at this as a data point as to whether Tesla has effectively removed unreasonable risk from the use of Autopilot," Philip Koopman, an expert in autonomous vehicle safety at Carnegie Mellon University, tells the AP. According to Tech Crunch, the NHTSA has indeed opened such an investigation.

Only four months ago, Tesla was pressured into recalling more than 2 million vehicles, including the Model S, to fix a system meant to ensure drivers are attentive when Autopilot is engaged. Tesla issued a software update to increase warnings and alerts to drivers if it fails to detect torque on the steering wheel, for example, though experts say this is inadequate. The NHTSA says Tesla has reported 20 crashes since the update, per the AP. The new investigation comes on the heels of the NHTSA wrapping up another probe of hundreds of Tesla crashes. A report released Friday found "a critical safety gap between drivers' expectations of [Autopilot's] operating capabilities and the system's true capabilities ... led to foreseeable misuse and avoidable crashes," per Tech Crunch. (More Tesla stories.)

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