Tesla is involved in yet another crash which proved to be fatal on 29th December in Southern California and now the U.S. government’s auto safety regulator has announced that the crash will be investigated.
The fatal crash happened in Gardena in Los Angeles county. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has not disclosed if the autopilot feature was suspected in this crash.
As per the report from Los Angeles television station KTLA, the driver exited the 91 Freeway in Gardena, ran a red light and struck a 2006 Honda Civic, killing its two occupants. The two people inside the Tesla were hospitalised but did not have life-threatening injuries.
Earlier this month, NHTSA opened an investigation into a 12th Tesla crash that may be tied to the vehicle’s advanced Autopilot driver assistance system. In that crash, a Tesla Model 3 rear-ended a parked police car in Connecticut.
Autopilot had been engaged in at least three Tesla vehicles that were involved in fatal crashes in the United States since 2016. The agency’s special crash investigation team has inspected 12 crashes involving Tesla vehicles where it was believed that Autopilot was engaged at the time of the incident.
Tesla and the NHTSA both have advised drivers that they must keep their hands on the steering wheel and pay attention at all times even when using Autopilot. The company says Autopilot “enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane,” but does not make the vehicle autonomous.
