confirmed
Walter Huang, 38, California: Tesla Autopilot steered his car into a highway barrier
A Tesla Model X using Autopilot moved left into the gore area at the US-101/SR-85 split and struck a damaged, non-operational crash attenuator at about 71 mph; the driver, an Apple engineer, died of his injuries. The NTSB found that Autopilot steering the vehicle into the gore was part of the probable cause.
- Status
- Confirmed by an official finding
- Deaths
- 1
- Date
- 23 March 2018
- Place
- Mountain View, California, United States
- AI system
- Tesla Autopilot (Traffic-Aware Cruise Control + Autosteer), 2017 Model X P100D
- Developer / operator
- Tesla
- Named
- Walter Huang
The finding
Probable cause: 'the Tesla Autopilot system steering the sport utility vehicle into a highway gore area due to system limitations', together with the driver's lack of response due to likely cell-phone game distraction and overreliance on Autopilot. Contributing: the vehicle's ineffective monitoring of driver engagement. The damaged attenuator (Caltrans/CHP) contributed to injury severity.
Legal status
NTSB report adopted 25 February 2020. The family's wrongful-death suit against Tesla (Santa Clara County Superior Court) was settled on confidential terms in April 2024 as trial was starting.
Notes
The system's own steering is part of the NTSB's probable cause, which makes this the strongest official finding of its kind.
Sources
- Collision Between a Sport Utility Vehicle Operating With Partial Driving Automation and a Crash Attenuator, Mountain View, California, March 23, 2018 (HAR-20/01)
- Investigation HWY18FH011
- Tesla settles lawsuit over Autopilot crash that killed Apple engineer