On Saturday, February 18, there was another accident in Walnut Creek, California, involving a Tesla Model S that crashed into a fire truck parked across the I-680 highway. The consequences of the accident are tragic: the driver died on the spot, the passenger remained trapped in the wreckage, had to be extricated and ended up in hospital with serious injuries.
Photos from the scene of the accident show a wrecked Tesla and a severely damaged fire truck with a high-lift platform. Four firefighters who were on the scene at the time of the accident were also slightly injured. reports the Daily Mail. The accident happened around 4 a.m. local time and it took several hours for the highway to be reopened.
Nothing is certain yet
Highway Patrol Officer Adam Lane said it is not clear at this time whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or whether the Tesla was driving in autonomous mode before the crash. If it turns out that the driver was using Autopilot, Tesla could face further problems.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) currently investigates Tesla’s autonomous driving system and how it responds to emergency vehicles on the road. The reason is at least fourteen similar Tesla accidents that have occurred in recent months, many of which were attributed in whole or in part to the Autopilot function. From a human point of view, “overlooking” a large and flashing fire truck seems paradoxical, but technology obviously has a problem with it.
Contra Costa County Assistant Fire Chief Tracie Dutter said the fire truck had its lights on. It was parked across the road on the northbound side of the freeway to protect emergency responders responding to the accident, which resulted in no injuries.
“Calling action”
Last week, Tesla announced “recall”, involving 362,758 vehicles (including the Model S), due to possible problems with their autonomous driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that the Full Self-Driving Beta software allows the vehicle “exceed speed limits”. They also claim that cars “drive through intersections in an illegal or unpredictable manner, increasing the risk of an accident”.
Tesla will issue a free software update via OTA (over-the-air) and said it is not aware of any injuries or deaths related to it. CEO Elon Musk criticized it on Twitter: “The word ‘recall’ for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just wrong!”
