United States: a Tesla Model S in autonomous mode causes a pile-up of 8 vehicles
Last November, over the American Thanksgiving weekend, an 8-vehicle pile-up was reported in the Yerba Buena tunnel in San Francisco. When the police questioned the driver of the Tesla Model S at the origin of the pile-up, the latter had put the blame on the technology FSD Beta (for Full Self-Driving, or fully autonomous driving) of his vehicle. According to the most recent images taken from the surveillance cameras at the scene, it can be seen that, indeed, the accident was caused by a Tesla which was traveling in autonomous mode.
It’s the American media The Intercept who would have got their hands on the video content pursuant to a request made in accordance with the California Public Records Act. The images come from two cameras, one of which is installed at the entrance to the tunnel, outside, and the other, inside the tunnel.
I obtained surveillance footage of the self-driving Tesla that abruptly stopped on the Bay Bridge, resulting in an eight-vehicle crash that injured 9 people including a 2 yr old child just hours after Musk announced the self-driving feature.
Full story: https://t.co/LaEvX9TzxW pic.twitter.com/i75jSh2UpN
—Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 10, 2023
In these images, we can clearly see a white Tesla Model S entering the tunnel by taking the second lane from the left. As soon as she entered the tunnel, we see her suddenly activate the brakes and then quickly pull over into the far left lane. The sedan then suddenly came to a stop, preventing the motorist following it from avoiding it. Of course, due to the very busy nature of this stretch of highway, the whole thing quickly turned into a pile-up that involved 8 vehicles. Nine people were injured in this accident, including a 2-year-old child.
A few hours after Elon Musk’s announcement on FSD Beta
This all happened hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter that FSD Beta technology is now available to everyone in North America through the multimedia system. vehicles, provided they have paid $19,500 for the option. He then took the time to congratulate the entire team behind the development of Tesla’s artificial intelligence and FSD technology.
Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen, assuming you have bought this option.
Congratulations to Tesla Autopilot/AI team on achieving a major milestone!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022
On the side of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in the United States, it is said that an investigation has been opened to analyze the causes of this accident. According to the organization, Tesla vehicles equipped with technologies called Enhanced Autopilot and Fully Automatic Driving Capability, were involved in 273 documented crashes between July 2021 and June 2022. NHTSA says that, since 2016, Tesla vehicles, which were circulating in autonomous mode, caused 19 deaths.
