Two crashes apparently involving Teslas running on Autopilot are under scrutiny from federal regulators and point to a potential new danger on US freeways: partially automated vehicles may not stop for motorcycles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent investigation teams last month into two accidents in which Teslas collided with motorcycles on a freeway in the dark. Both were fatal.
the agency suspects that Tesla’s Each had a partially automated driver-assistance system in use. The agency says once it gathers more information, it could include accidents in a broader investigation into Tesla’s striking emergency vehicles parked along freeways. NHTSA is also investigating more than 750 complaints that Teslas may apply the brakes for no reason.
The first accident involving a motorcyclist occurred on July 7 at 4:47 a.m. on State Route 91, a freeway in Riverside, California. A white Tesla Model Y SUV was traveling east in the high occupancy vehicle lane. The California Highway Patrol said in a statement that earlier there was a green Yamaha V-Star motorcycle.
At some point, the vehicles collided, and the unidentified motorcycle was ejected from the Yamaha. The fire department declared him brought dead at the scene.
Tesla was on or not autopilot A CHP spokesperson said the investigation was ongoing.
The second accident occurred on July 24 near Draper, Utah on Interstate 15 at approximately 1:09 p.m. A Tesla Model 3 sedan was behind a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, also in an HOV lane. “The driver of the Tesla did not see the motorcycle and collided with the rear of the motorcycle, which threw the rider off the bike,” the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a prepared statement.
The rider, identified as 34-year-old Landon Embry of Orem, Utah, died on the spot. The statement said the Tesla driver told officers that he had the vehicle’s Autopilot setting on.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, told NHTSA to recall Tesla’s Autopilot because it is not recognizing motorcycles, emergency vehicles or pedestrians.
“It’s pretty clear to me, and it should be to a lot of Tesla owners by now, that this stuff isn’t working properly and it’s not going to live up to expectations, and it’s putting innocent people in danger on the streets.” has been,” Brooks said.
According to agency documents, since 2016, NHTSA has dispatched teams to 39 accidents suspected of being in use of automated driving systems. Tesla was involved in 30 of them, which resulted in 19 deaths.
Brooks criticized the agency for continuing the investigation but not taking action. “What are they doing when these accidents keep happening?” He asked. “Drivers are being tricked into thinking it saves them and others on the roads, and it’s not working.”
Musk has eliminated the use of radar from his system and relied entirely on cameras and computer memory. Brooks and other security advocates say the lack of radar affects vision in the dark.
Messages were left asking for comment from Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department.
Tesla has said that Autopilot and “full self-driving” cannot self-drive, and that drivers must be prepared to intervene at all times.
In a June interview, new NHTSA administrator Steven Cliff said the agency is ramping up efforts to understand the risks posed by automated vehicles to decide what regulations are necessary to protect drivers, passengers and pedestrians. can be. There are no federal regulations that directly cover either self-driving vehicles or those with partially automated driver-assistance systems such as Autopilot.
The agency also says the technology holds great promise in reducing traffic accidents.
NHTSA has ordered all automakers and tech companies to report all accidents with automated driving systems. The agency released the first batch of data in June showing that there were nearly 400 accidents over a 10-month period, including 273 with Tesla. But it cautioned against making comparisons, saying Tesla’s telematics allows it to collect data in real time, much faster than other companies.
Tesla’s Autopilot keeps cars in their lane and at a distance from other vehicles. The company is also using selected owners to test “full self-driving” software, which is designed to complete a route on its own with human supervision. Eventually, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the cars will drive themselves, enabling a fleet of autonomous robotaxis that will boost Tesla’s earnings. In 2019, Musk pledged to run robo-taxi in 2020.
He said Thursday at the company’s annual shareholders meeting that “full self-driving” has improved significantly, and he expects to have the software available to all owners who request it by the end of the year.