Moment self-driving Tesla abruptly stops and causes EIGHT-vehicle pileup
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Highway surveillance footage of the San Francisco Bay Bridge shows a Tesla Model S vehicle in self-driving mode changing lanes and coming to an abrupt stop, causing an eight-vehicle crash.
Nine people, including a two-year-old boy, were among those injured in the crash that blocked traffic on the bridge for more than an hour.
Video and new photos of the accident emerged on laintercepcion.com with the driver of the vehicle revealing that he had been using Tesla’s new ‘full self-driving’ feature at the time.
Just hours before the accident, Tesla CEO Elon Musk triumphantly announced that Tesla’s “full self-driving” capability was available in North America, congratulating Tesla employees on a “major milestone.”
Highway surveillance footage of the San Francisco Bay Bridge shows a Tesla Model S vehicle changing lanes and coming to an abrupt stop causing an eight-vehicle crash
Nine people, including a two-year-old boy, were among those injured in the crash that blocked traffic on the bridge for more than an hour.
According to the traffic accident report, the driver of the Tesla Model S told the California Highway Patrol that they were traveling at a speed of approximately 55 mph and switched to the left lane when the car’s self-driving technology suddenly opted to brake.
In video footage, the white vehicle can be seen slowly merging into the far left lane before coming to an abrupt stop.
Vehicles behind the car can be seen colliding with each other following the alleged vehicle malfunction.
Images that emerged from the incident show the vehicles nestled together and stuck to the far left side wall.
By the end of last year, Tesla had rolled out the “fully autonomous driving” feature to more than 285,000 people in North America, according to the company.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, has said it is launching an investigation into the incident that occurred on Thanksgiving Day last year.
According to NHTSA data, Tesla vehicles using its “autopilot” driver assistance system and “full autonomous driving” mode were involved in 273 known accidents from July 2021 through June last year.
Teslas accounted for nearly 70 percent of the 329 crashes involving advanced driver assistance systems, as well as the majority of deaths and serious injuries associated with them.
Since 2016, the federal agency has investigated a total of 35 crashes likely involving Tesla’s “full autonomous driving” or “autopilot” systems. Together, these accidents have killed 19 people.
In recent months, a flurry of reports has surfaced in which Tesla drivers complained of sudden “phantom braking,” causing the vehicle to brake hard at high speeds.
Just hours before the accident, Tesla CEO Elon Musk triumphantly announced that Tesla’s “full self-driving” capability was available in North America, congratulating Tesla employees on a “major milestone.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Tesla over its self-driving technology following a series of accidents and hundreds of safety complaints from Tesla drivers.
More than 100 such complaints were filed with NHTSA in a three-month period, according to the Washington Post.
The boy injured in the November 24 crash suffered an abrasion to the left back of his head, as well as a bruise, according to the incident report obtained by the outlet.
Last year, Musk called “fully autonomous driving” an “essential” feature for Tesla’s development, going so far as to say: “It’s really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or basically zero.”
The term ‘fully self-driving’ has been criticized by other manufacturers and industry groups as misleading and even dangerous.
Last summer, the agency upgraded its investigation to a so-called engineering analysis, indicating that it may be seriously considering a recall.
NHTSA opened its investigation after 16 accidents involving Teslas.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles also charged Tesla with false advertising for its “autopilot” feature.
The California DMV remains in its discovery stage for final proceedings.
Tesla shares started in 2023, plunging nearly 14 percent last week after the company missed fourth-quarter delivery estimates despite shipping a record number of vehicles.
Worth more than $1 trillion, Tesla lost nearly 65 percent of market value in a tumultuous 2022, wiping out more than $400 billion of the company’s market capitalization.
The Jan. 3 crash wiped another $50 billion off Tesla’s value, roughly equal to the valuation of rival Ford, which last year sold three times as many cars as Tesla.