Tesla driver killed on ‘autopilot’ mode

Tesla has said a driver was killed while using its “autopilot” self-driving mechanism on its Model S electric car, leading to a federal safety investigation.

Tesla said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had opened a “preliminary evaluation” into the performance of Autopilot after the electric car company notified the agency of the fatality.

In a statement on Thursday, Tesla said the fatality was “a tragic loss” and was the first such incident with its Autopilot system activated.

“This is the first known fatality in just over 209 million kilometres where Autopilot was activated,” the company said.

“Among all vehicles in the United States, there is a fatality every 94 million miles. Worldwide, there is a fatality approximately every 60 million miles,” it said.

“It is important to emphasise that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration action is simply a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the system worked according to expectations.”

Tesla, known for its high-end electric cars, unveiled the system last year which allows the vehicle to automatically change lanes, manage speed and even hit the brakes.

The system is activated and overridden by the driver.

Tesla said that in the fatal accident, the car was on a divided highway when a tractor-trailer drove across the road to be situated perpendicular to the 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,” the statement said.

“The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S.”

Tesla said that if there had been an impact against the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, “its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents.”

Tesla said it followed “our standard practice” by informing federal safety officials.

“It is important to note that Tesla disables Autopilot by default and requires explicit acknowledgement that the system is new technology and still in a public beta phase before it can be enabled,” Tesla said.