A Tesla car kills a motorcyclist. Of the 392 Tesla car accidents, 273 were Tesla cars that used autopilot or the fully autonomous driving demo, but it was this accident that sparked controversy on the American street that made America open an investigation into the collision between them.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened another investigation into the Tesla car crash that killed a motorcyclist in California earlier this month.
TechCrunch reports that the latest investigation aims to find out whether the advanced Autopilot driver assistance system in the 2021 Tesla Model Y was in use at the time of the fatal accident, and earlier this month, the US agency opened an investigation into one of those fatal accidents in which a person was killed. Pedestrians participated in the 2018 Tesla Model 3 in California.
Tesla's advanced driver assistance system, known as Autopilot, is under more scrutiny by the federal agency, and last month, NHTSA "upgraded" its investigation into Tesla's autopilot after discovering new incidents of electric vehicles colliding with parked first responder vehicles.
The NHTSA's Special Collision Investigations (SCI) Program focuses on cases useful for examining special collision conditions or outcomes from an engineering perspective.
According to a report on the American channel ABC 4, a motorcyclist died Sunday morning after the driver of a Tesla car using self-driving collided with the back of his bike in Draper, Utah.
The accident occurred just after 1 a.m. Sunday on southbound Interstate 15. According to the source, the motorcyclist, who was not identified, was heading south near the Salt Lake County, Utah lines when a Tesla approached from behind and hit him at great speed.
The Utah Department of Public Safety said the driver of a Tesla collided with the back of the motorcycle, causing the motorcyclist to fall to the ground and die instantly.
The accident occurred just after 1 a.m. Sunday on southbound Interstate 15. According to the source, the motorcyclist, who was not identified, was heading south near the Salt Lake County, Utah lines when a Tesla approached from behind and hit him at great speed.
The Utah Department of Public Safety said the driver of a Tesla collided with the back of the motorcycle, causing the motorcyclist to fall to the ground and die instantly.
The driver of the smart electric car was informed of the accident and remained in his place. He confirmed in the investigation that he had not seen the motorcyclist and that he was using automated driving at the time of the accident.
The Utah accident is the latest addition to NHTSA's list of vehicle crash and traffic safety investigations, as the agency collects data beyond what local authorities and insurance companies typically collect at the scene.
The agency also screens and reviews crashes involving advanced driver assistance systems, such as automated driving in Tesla cars.
The number of smart car accidents rose to 48 on the FTA's list, 39 of which involved Tesla cars.
The 39 accidents caused 20 deaths and 15 injuries, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, other drivers, and motorcyclists.
Autopilot accidents with motorcycles
The Tesla Model 3 autopilot apparently did not notice the motorcyclist, riding a Harley-Davidson, and crashed into the motorcycle from behind, knocking the driver off his bike. This happened just after midnight on July 24 on Interstate 15 in Utah.
The other accident from Riverside, California, occurred just before 5 a.m. on July 7 on State Route 91 when a Model Y collided with a motorcyclist from behind, causing him to fly off his Yamaha V-Star.
It is also unknown whether the autopilot was activated at that time, but NHTSA investigations into both cases should clarify this.
It should be noted that even if the autopilot or FSD is not active at the time of the accident, the car's ADAS features should still be active as the Tesla approaches the car or object in front of it.
According to Michael Brooks, acting CEO of the nonprofit Center for Motor Safety, and others not named in the source article, these two accidents involving motorcyclists can be traced back to the fact that Tesla's automated driving relied solely on cameras after the manufacturer removed the radar from all models.