Tesla autopilot driver was reportedly watching Harry Potter when he was hit and killed
- JULY 1, 201611:43AM
US OH: Tesla Driver Killed in Autopilot Crash Had Filmed Previous Near Miss April 05
- Nick Whigham and AP
- news.com.au
IT WAS always going to happen, the question was how would the world react?
It was announced early this morning that a Tesla Model S has been involved in a fatal crash during which the autopilot mode of the vehicle was activated.
The accident occurred on a highway in northern Florida when a tractor trailer drove perpendicular across the highway crashing into the Tesla car which was driving itself.
Tesla, which said the driver was ultimately responsible for the vehicle’s action even when in autopilot mode, said both the driver and the car failed to notice the tractor trailer “against a brightly lit sky” and the brakes failed to kick in.
In a company blog post detailing the accident, Tesla said the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) had been informed of the accident and had been conducting an investigation into the accident.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted the blog post offering his “condolences for the tragic loss.”
The driver of the Tesla was a 40-year-old Joshua Brown, the owner of a technology company who nicknamed his vehicle “Tessy” and had praised its sophisticated “Autopilot” system just one month earlier for preventing a collision on an interstate.
While the accident was only recently reported, it took place on May 7.
The cameras on Mr Brown’s car had failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and didn’t automatically activate its brakes, according to a government report obtained by the Associated Press.
Frank Baressi, 62, the driver of the truck said the Tesla driver was “playingHarry Potter on the TV screen” at the time of the crash and driving so quickly that “he went so fast through my trailer I didn’t see him.”
“It was still playing when he died and snapped a telephone pole a quarter mile down the road,” he said.
Tesla Motors Inc. said it is not possible to watch videos on the Model S touch screen and Mr Baressi acknowledged he couldn’t see the movie, he only heard it playing.
Tesla’s Autopilot system, which provides functions such as hands-free cruising and lane changing, has become a star of YouTube videos by drivers out to push its limits. Picture: Beck DiefenbachSource:Reuters
Mr Brown was an enthusiastic booster of his 2015 Tesla Model S and in April credited its sophisticated Autopilot system for avoiding a crash when a commercial truck swerved into his lane on an interstate. He published a video of the incident online. “Hands down the best car I have ever owned and use it to its full extent,” Mr Brown wrote.
Tesla didn’t identify Mr Brown but described him in the statement as “a friend to Tesla and the broader EV (electric vehicle) community, a person who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla’s mission.”
Mr Musk’s company also stressed in the blog post that there still remains some uncertainty about its new system, pointing out that drivers must manually enable it.
“Autopilot is getting better all the time, but it is not perfect and still requires the driver to remain alert,” the company said.
— With AP
