confirmed
Joshua Brown, 40, Florida: Tesla on Autopilot drove under a crossing truck
A 2015 Tesla Model S using Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer struck the side of a semitrailer that was turning left across US-27A, passing underneath it; the driver was killed. Neither the driver nor the system braked. The NTSB found the truck driver's failure to yield and the car driver's overreliance on automation caused the crash, with Autopilot's operational design contributing.
- Status
- Confirmed by an official finding
- Deaths
- 1
- Date
- 7 May 2016
- Place
- Williston, Florida, United States
- AI system
- Tesla Autopilot (first generation: Traffic-Aware Cruise Control + Autosteer), 2015 Model S 70D
- Developer / operator
- Tesla (vision supplier Mobileye)
- Named
- Joshua Brown
The finding
Probable cause: the truck driver's failure to yield, combined with the car driver's inattention due to overreliance on vehicle automation. Contributing to that overreliance was the automation's operational design, which 'permitted his prolonged disengagement from the driving task' and use inconsistent with Tesla's guidance and warnings.
Legal status
NTSB report adopted on 12 September 2017. NHTSA separately closed its defect investigation without ordering a recall. No lawsuit by the family has been reported.
Notes
First-generation Autopilot used Mobileye camera vision, a mix of machine-learned classifiers and conventional computer vision. The NTSB said the system worked as designed; its finding is that the design let the driver disengage, and that this contributed.
Sources
- Collision Between a Car Operating With Automated Vehicle Control Systems and a Tractor-Semitrailer Truck Near Williston, Florida, May 7, 2016 (HAR-17/02)
- Investigation HWY16FH018
- NTSB says fatal Tesla Autopilot crash caused in part by resulting inattention
- Mobileye statement on the Tesla crash
- Mobileye, Tesla End Self-Driving Car Relationship