ORLANDO, Florida – A Tesla using its partially automated driving system crashed Saturday into a Florida Highway Patrol cruise on an interstate near downtown Orlando and nearly lost its driver, who had stopped to help a disabled vehicle.
Earlier this month, the U.S. government opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s autopilot driving system following a series of similar collisions with parked emergency vehicles.
The soldier whose cruiser was hit shortly before 5 a.m. Saturday had turned on the emergency lights and was heading for the disabled vehicle when the Tesla hit the left side of the cruiser and then collided with the another vehicle, highway patrol spokeswoman Lt. Kim Montes said. Orlando Sentinel.
The report states that the 27-year-old Tesla man and the driver of the disabled vehicle sustained minor injuries and that the soldier was unharmed.
Tesla TSLA,
did not immediately respond to an email sent to your press address.
Autopilot has been frequently misused by Tesla drivers, who have been caught driving drunk or even driving in the back seat while a car was driving on a California highway.
The electric vehicle manufacturer uses a camera-based system, a lot of computing power, and sometimes radar to detect obstacles, determine what they are, and then decide what the vehicles should do. But investigators say he has had problems with parked emergency vehicles and trucks perpendicular to his passage.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the Tesla spacecraft after recording 11 crashes since 2018 in which Teslas autopilot or cruise control crashed into vehicles in which first responders used flashing lights, flares, an illuminated arrow plate or cones that warn of risks.
In those crashes, 17 people were injured and one died, the NHTSA said. An investigation may result in withdrawal or other compliance action.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has also investigated Tesla accidents, has recommended that NHTSA and Tesla limit the use of autopilot to areas where it can operate safely. It is also recommended that Tesla be required to improve its system to ensure that drivers pay attention.
Last year the NTSB blamed Tesla, drivers and lax NHTSA regulation for two collisions in which Teslas crashed below crossing trailers.
The crashes against emergency vehicles cited by NHTSA began on January 22, 2018 in Culver City, California, near Los Angeles, when a Tesla using autopilot attacked a fire truck parked with flashing lights. No one was injured in the crash.