The crash, involving a 2014 Tesla Model S, occurred January 22, 2018 in Culver City, Calif. The Tesla had Autopilot engaged for nearly 14 minutes when it struck a fire truck that was parked on Interstate 405. The driver was not injured in the crash and the fire truck was unoccupied.
Autopilot includes two important features, Autosteer and Traffic-Aware Cruise Control. Autosteer is a lane-keeping assist system that can only be engaged after Traffic-Aware Cruise Control is activated. The Traffic-Aware Cruise Control is an adaptive cruise control system that modifies speed based on information from the camera and radar sensors.
According to NTSB, the Model S had Autopilot engaged and was in the HOV lane following another car.
In the 15 seconds prior to the crash the system detected and followed two different lead vehicles. Data shows that 3 to 4 seconds before the crash, the lead vehicle changed lanes to the right, the NTSB report says. When the Traffic-Aware Cruise Control no longer detected the lead vehicle, the system accelerated the Tesla from about 21 mph toward the preset cruise speed of 80 mph, which had been set by the driver about 5 minutes before the crash, the report says.
The “Autopilot” system detected a stationary object in the Tesla’s path about 0.49 seconds before the crash and the forward collision warning activated, displaying a visual warning and sounding an auditory warning. By the moment of impact, the Tesla had accelerated to 30.9 mph.
Autopilot was engaged in the final 13 minutes and 48 seconds of the trip and yet, the system detected driver-applied steering wheel torque for only 51 seconds of that time, the NTSB said.
While, the Tesla Model S owner’s manual contains numerous warnings about the limitations of these features and the need for drivers to keep their hands on the wheel, the driver was not paying attention, the NTSB said. More importantly, the Tesla’s Autopilot design permitted the driver to disengage from the driving task, the NTSB concluded.
