The U.S. federal government launched an investigation over a crash involving a Tesla and a Semi truck in southwest Detroit, on Tuesday, March 16.
On March 11 at around 3:20 a.m., a white Tesla Model Y crashed and ended up stuck underneath a large tractor-trailer, which dragged the car at a distance before stopping.
The male driver, identified as 22-year-old, Jean Paul Guerrero, and the 21-year-old woman passenger identified as Esmeralda Barco were rushed to a local hospital, with the latter listed in critical condition.
A Tesla is trapped under a semi truck on Fort Street near Waterman in Southwest Detroit. Two passengers were taken to the hospital and they are in critical condition. The driver of the semi is not hurt. @WWJ950 @FOX2News pic.twitter.com/yOHSaOblzb
— Charlie Langton (@charlielangton) March 11, 2021
Wayne County Prosecutor's office charged Guerrero with reckless driving causing serious injury and driving with a suspended license.
Detroit Police Department Nicole Kirkwood said that it is hard to tell if Guerrero had engaged Tesla's Autopilot system at the time of the crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has assigned a special crash investigation team to look into the collision that left passengers critically injured.
The goal of the investigation is to determine whether the Autopilot feature was engaged at the time of the crash.
Scrutiny on Tesla
The National Transportation Safety Board called out Tesla for failing to properly monitor drivers when the vehicle's autonomous control system is engaged.
The statement comes after Tesla had been involved in three fatal crashes in which the Autopilot system was engaged.
In 2016, 45-year-old Joshua Brown from Florida died while using the Autopilot of his Tesla Model S after it went under the trailer of an 18-wheel semi and the roof of his car was torn off by the impact.
The then, highly publicized incident was the first reported death that shook the electric vehicle company and the self-driving car community.
According to a report from Forbes, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation about establishing regulations to govern driver assist systems and the testing of autonomous vehicles.
"Because NHTSA has put in place no requirements, manufacturers can operate and test vehicles virtually anywhere, even if the location exceeds the autonomous control system's limitations," Sumwalt wrote in the letter dated February 1.
Tesla's Response
On March 7, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta testing group is targeting to sign up 2,000 people due to high levels of demand.
He clarified in his post on Twitter that the word "Beta" was used to set appropriate expectations on the feature and reduce the user's complacency.
Tesla had been advising drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel and pay attention to the road while engaging the feature, according to Reuters.
However, some drivers admitted to not putting their hands on the wheel for extended periods when using the Autopilot feature.
Musk then wrote another post on Twitter announcing that the company had revoked FSD Beta privileges drivers due to inattentiveness.
Reuters reported that the electric vehicle company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
FSD Beta has now been expanded to ~2000 owners & we’ve also revoked beta where drivers did not pay sufficient attention to the road. No accidents to date.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2021
Next significant release will be in April. Going with pure vision — not even using radar. This is the way to real-world AI.
Related Article: Tesla Software Update '2021.4.12' Now Live: Model Y Winter Upgrade to Combat Harsh Cold Weather Conditions
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Lee Mercado
