A Tesla car collided with a parked police car and a Mercedes SUV in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of Saturday morning after the driver put the car into autopilot, a feature that has increasingly been brought under control by of federal regulators and U.S. lawmakers.
The Orlando division of the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) tweeted that a Florida soldier had been arrested on Interstate 4 for helping a “disabled” Mercedes.
A woman driving a 2019 Tesla Model 3 told officers she had activated the autopilot feature before the front right side of her car hit the left side of the police car, as well as the front of the SUV. .
Photos posted on social media by FHP showed substantial damage to the vehicles, although the department noted that the soldier was outside his car at the time of the accident.
The agency did not report any fatalities or injuries as a result of the incident.
Now it’s happening: Orange County. The soldier stopped to help a disabled motorist on I-4. When Tesla was driving in “automatic” mode he crashed into the patrol car. The soldier was out of the car and was very lucky not to have been hit. # leave room. WB lanes on I-4 remain blocked as the scene is being cleared. pic.twitter.com/w9N7cE4bAR
– FHP Orlando (@FHPOrlando) August 28, 2021
FHP said it was conducting an investigation into the crash to officially determine whether the autopilot role played a role in the crash.
The Hill has contacted Tesla to comment.
The crash is the latest incident related to a Tesla vehicle with the partially assisted autopilot function. A crash occurred in March when a self-propelled Tesla attacked the vehicle of a Michigan state soldier.
Although no injuries were reported in the March crash, at least 11 people have died in collisions since 2015 in which the autopilot feature has been activated.
The company has argued that the technology is proven and safe, with the user manual specifying that the feature does not make the vehicle fully autonomous.
Earlier this month, the The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that it was opening a formal investigation into the autopilot function of Tesla Models Y, X, S and 3 vehicles released from 2014 to 2021.
Days later, Mr. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) I Ed Markey
Ed MarkeyThe Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by AT&T – Biden: US military stays in Afghanistan until the last US comes out in The Money: Fed officials say purchases fell of good | Construction of new housing falls by 7% in July Top Democrat introduces bill to make housing more affordable in Hillicon Valley: Federals are expected to unveil a new strategy in Facebook’s antitrust fight MORE (D-Mass.) He wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate the commercialization of the property by Tesla.
Lawmakers then wrote that Tesla “has repeatedly overestimated the capabilities of its vehicles, and these statements increasingly pose a threat to motorists and other road users.”
“Accordingly, we urge you to open an investigation into potentially misleading and unfair practices in Tesla’s advertising and marketing of its driving automation systems and to take appropriate enforcement action to ensure the safety of all drivers in the road, ”they added.