Tesla Model S driver suffers fatal crash while using autopilot, in first known death involving an autonomous vehicle

2016-07-01T13:37:00-04:00

On May 7, 2016, Joshua Brown, 40, of Williston, Florida was heading down the highway in his Tesla Model S, using the car’s autopilot mode, when he fatally collided with a tractor trailer. The truck took a left-turn in front of his vehicle, and according to a news release issued by Tesla, “Neither autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor-trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.”

A Navy veteran and owner of a technology consulting firm, Brown had used the autopilot mode before, even going so far as to record videos of himself riding in the car under its guidance.

The tragic death is also a historic one, as the first known fatality involving an autonomous vehicle. Federal regulators have opened up an investigation into Brown’s death at a time when car companies, technology firms, and legislators are all scrambling towards the seemingly inevitable future of ubiquitous autonomous vehicles.

Tesla maintains that their autopilot mode is still very...

Dawn of the self-driving car: testing out Tesla's autopilot function

2015-10-21T18:48:00-04:00

Using cruise control, you can set the [Tesla] to a particular speed and it will accelerate and turn within a lane in a straight line. It will dodge cars attempting to swerve into your lane, objects that it can see, pedestrians or fellow drivers simply trying to swerve into you because you’re an obnoxious prick with a Tesla blasting Party Rock Anthem. [...] It can’t, however, direct you along every street...

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Tesla Model S driver suffers fatal crash while using autopilot, in first known death involving an autonomous vehicle

Dawn of the self-driving car: testing out Tesla's autopilot function