Highway safety regulators have another Tesla autopilot-induced crash to investigate. This time, however, it ended in another fatality.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced it is probing into the recent crash that involved a Tesla Model 3 with its autopilot engaged and a motorcycle and its rider, who unfortunately died as a result, per Reuters.
The NHTSA has been investigating Tesla's self-driving system since August 2021, which caused around 273 of 392 crashes attributed to a car's autopilot, per its report in June 2022.
Latest Tesla Crash Details
The latest crash that involved a Tesla's self-driving system happened at Draper, Utah, on the morning of July 24, per the Daily Mail, when a Tesla Model 3 collided with 34-year-old motorcyclist Dashawn Holland, who was driving in front of the speeding Tesla while the car was merging into his lane.
According to an ABC4 report, the Tesla Model 3 struck the back of Holland's Davidson bike, which sent him flying and to his immediate death due to the injuries he sustained.
Meanwhile, the Utah Department of Public Safety revealed that the unidentified driver of the Tesla "advised" that he had his Tesla's autopilot setting on and that he did not see the motorcyclist as he was merging with Holland's lane.
It is yet unclear if the driver was arrested, or is facing charges.
Tesla has also yet to address or comment on the Utah crash.
NHTSA Investigation
The Utah crash marks the 40th Tesla vehicle crash being investigated by the NHTSA's Special Crash Investigations (SC), per The Verge, and the 19th Tesla crash that ended in a fatality and involved Tesla's autopilot system.
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The NHTSA's SCI is the agency that examines crashes involving advanced driver-assist systems similar to Tesla's autopilot system.
The crash also follows the intensification of the NHTSA's investigation of Tesla's autopilot system into an Engineering analysis.
You may remember that the NHTSA is reviewing data from 830,000 cars and around 200 cases of collisions that involved Tesla cars with their autopilot function engaged.
Should the NHTSA's investigation find that Tesla's autopilot and self-driving system are "defective," it may force the company to recall every car that features its autopilot and/or self-driving system.
Although Tesla vehicles are most commonly involved in crashes with its autopilot system engaged, NHTSA head Steven Cliff reminds people that this finding isn't conclusive as Tesla vehicles are some of the most common semi-autonomous cars, per Engadget.
Tesla's Self-Driving System Details
Tesla's self-driving system is a feature available to Tesla cars whose owners have paid a fee to have it installed, per CNN. It allows a Tesla car to use the cameras around it to "see" the cars around it and drive itself to some degree, per Tom's Guide.
Tesla mentioned that the feature is currently in beta mode, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that actual autonomous driving, or having the car drive on its own without a driver's supervision, will be coming in the future.
Contrary to its name, Tesla's self-driving system doesn't let the car drive by itself as it is under the Society of Automotive Engineers' Level 2 automation.
A vehicle with level 2 automation means that it has control of steering, accelerating, and decelerating, but the person in the driver's seat can take control at any time, per Synopsis.
This switch is crucial as the vehicle's computer might commit a mistake, which an attentive human could correct in time should it happen.
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