Investigation finds Tesla’s Autopilot, safety features not at fault for fatal crash

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has closed its investigation of a fatal Tesla crash in May 2016, concluding that there were no defects in the company’s Autopilot feature or in the vehicle’s Automatic Emergency Braking system.

The accident in question occurred last year when an Ohio man’s Tesla Model S, driving on Autopilot on a divided Florida highway, collided with a tractor trailer crossing the car’s path. Tesla later theorized that the vehicle’s system could not differentiate between the white side of the tractor trailer and the brightly lit sky behind. As a result, neither the car nor the driver applied the brakes in time.

The NHTSA’s investigation also found that the driver of the Tesla Model S — 40-year-old Joshua Brown — would have had at least seven seconds to act prior to the impact. Although that would have been enough time to take “some action,” it might not have been enough to “avoid or mitigate the crash,” NHTSA’s Bryan Thomas told The Verge.

The investigation report called that seven seconds a “period of extended distraction,” and noted that similar crashes had a much shorter time period (around three-seconds) for either a self-driving system or driver to avoid a collision. There’s no word as to what the Tesla driver was doing at the time, but the driver of the tractor trailer claimed that Brown was watching a movie. His last interaction with the car was to set the cruise control two minutes prior to the crash.

While the Palo Alto-based company won’t be fined, the NHTSA criticized Tesla for marketing its system as “Autopilot.” In the investigation, the agency concluded that automated driving systems still require the “continual and full attention of a driver.” However, the agency did note that, when Autopilot is activated on a Tesla, the car reminds drivers to keep their hands on the wheel. The carmaker recently updated their system with a feature that locks drivers out if they fail to do so, Engadget reported.

“At Tesla, the safety of our customers comes first, and we appreciate the thoroughness of NHTSA’s report and its conclusion,” a Tesla spokesperson said of the investigation.

Tesla first released its Autopilot system in late 2015, and at the time, some questioned whether the system was really ready for use on public roads. Similar to the NHTSA’s criticism, Consumer Reports urged Tesla to drop the “Autopilot” branding for the system — claiming that the name gave drivers a false impression of the system’s ability to drive itself, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In the wake of the Florida crash — as well other non-fatal accidents — Tesla upgraded its safety features last September to rely less on cameras and more on radar. That system’s advantages can be seen in a viral video that circulated in December showing a Tesla vehicle predicting a crash before it happened, and safely bringing itself to a stop.

Photo courtesy of Tesla Motors.

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