ABC News reports a Tesla crashed into a California Highway Patrol car, seriously injuring two officers, after its driver said he was asleep using driver assistance
A self-driving Tesla crashed into a California highway patrol vehicle, seriously injuring two officers inside. According to the officers, the driver said he was asleep at the time and using the car’s driver-assistance technology.
Context
The crash adds to questions about drivers relying on Tesla's driver assistance as if it were fully autonomous, just as the company expands the system abroad.
This is a news report from ABC News based on the California Highway Patrol's account and dashcam video. The claim that the car was using Full Self Driving comes from the driver, and investigators had not confirmed it at first.
Deep dive
On October 16, ABC News posted that a self driving Tesla crashed into a California Highway Patrol vehicle, seriously injuring two officers inside. It said that according to the officers, the driver said he was asleep and using the car's driver assistance technology.
Local reports give more detail. CBS San Francisco said the crash happened late Tuesday, October 14, on eastbound Interstate 80 near Fairfield, where four lanes were closed with flares and cones after an earlier fatal crash. The Tesla drove into the closure at freeway speed and hit a patrol car with two officers inside.
KQED reported that two other officers standing behind the car ran out of the way, that both injured officers spent the night in hospital and were released, and that the 22 year old driver from Sacramento had minor injuries and was not impaired. He told officers he was asleep while using Full Self Driving.
The Sacramento Bee reported that investigators had not yet determined whether the feature was active. CHP said that despite its name, Full Self Driving is a driver assistance feature that requires the driver to stay alert.
What to expect next
Watch whether CHP confirms if Full Self Driving was active, and whether federal safety regulators look into the crash as part of their ongoing reviews of Tesla's systems.
Also watch Tesla's response, any charges against the driver, and whether the case affects regulators abroad as Tesla rolls out the system in Europe, including Slovakia this week. Changes to how Tesla checks that drivers are paying attention would be a key signal.