The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a Tesla Model X crash that took place on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on July 1, Reuters reports.
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The May 7 accident in Florida killed Joshua Brown, 40, while he was driving a Tesla Model S on autopilot. Fortune presented the disclaimer as proof that Tesla considered such an event to be important, writing, “Apparently, a crash related to Tesla’s autopilot feature was material, before it wasn’t”. The SUV struck a guard rail on the right side of the roadway, crossed lanes, hit the median and flipped over in the road, the state police record said.
Albert Scaglione, 77, a Detroit art gallery owner, was traveling with his son-in-law, Tim Yanke, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when his Tesla vehicle crashed and rolled over. A 2013 Infiniti G37 driven in the westbound lane by Thomas Hess of West Chester, Pa., was struck by debris from the Scaglione vehicle, but neither he nor his passenger was hurt.
Pennsylvania State Police said charges against Scaglione are forthcoming because of insufficient evidence to prove a malfunction in Tesla’s Autopilot.
The Tesla Autopilot system allows the auto to keep itself in a lane, maintain speed and operate for a limited time without a driver doing the steering. If the vehicle did flip, it could have caused the antenna to fail, the company said.
Tesla has stressed that the driver is ultimately responsible for controlling a vehicle while in Autopilot and that the driver would be held liable in the event of a crash.
The emergence of more crashes, some of which had been discussed on Tesla owner forums, was reported yesterday by The Wall Street Journal. While he was able to hit the brakes to save himself, his self-driving Tesla Model S was a total wreck.
The NHTSA has been gathering information from state police, Tesla and the driver for this investigation.
Drivers using the Autopilot mode remain safer than regular drivers, reiterated Tesla. Tesla was unable to reach the driver after the crash, including three attempts to call him.
“When Tesla told NHTSA about the accident on May 16th, we had barely started our investigation”.
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Tesla says its Autopilot system is still in public beta testing, and users are warned before using the system that the technology is new and that drivers should not take their hands off the wheel. In both instances the agency will look at the design and performance of the Autopilot system, primarily to determine whether the system worked according to expectations.
