Tesla's 1st Death From Car On Autopilot Under Investigation

By Dave Colby (Patch Staff)

Gainesville, FL -- Tesla Motors confirmed Thursday that a federal agency will open a preliminary evaluation into the performance of Autopilot after a single fatality occurred in a Model S vehicle.
StreetInsider.com reports the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is opening the evaluation following a recent fatal crash that occurred in a Tesla Model S.

The crash occurred May 7, 2016 in Florida southwest of Gainesville on U.S. Highway 27 when a 45-year-old Ohio man was killed after he drove under the trailer of an 18-wheel semi, according to a local news report.
Levyjournalonline says the top of Joshua Brown’s 2015 Tesla Model S vehicle was sheared-off when a tractor-trailer attempted to make a left turn in front of the car.

The car’s roof allegedly struck the underside of the trailer as it passed underneath, smashed through two fences and struck a power pole before coming to rest 100 feet off the highway, according to the report.

Brown was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a statement released by Tesla, and reposted by StreetInsider, the company says, in part:

What we know is that the vehicle was on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S. Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S. Had the Model S impacted the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents.

Tesla emphasizes that this incident is the only known fatality that has occurred due to Autopilot in any Model S sold in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated. Among all vehicles in the United States, there is a fatality every 94 million miles, Tesla says.

You can read the full StreetInsider report here.
Image via Marc van der Chijs/Flickr