FATAL AUTOPILOT CRASH WON’T FORCE TESLA RECALL.

• Tesla Motors Inc. won’t face a recall or fine as a result of a fatal crash involving its Autopilot system, but U.S. regulators are warning manufacturers and drivers not to treat semiautonomous cars as if they were fully self-driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday it found that the system had no safety defects at the time of the May 7 crash in Florida, and that it was primarily designed to prevent rear-end collisions.

Bryan Thomas, the agency’s chief spokesman, said automated driving systems still require a driver’s full attention. He warned that automakers need to keep tabs on how drivers use the technology and should design vehicles “with the inattentive driver in mind.”

The probe began June 28, nearly two months after a driver using Autopilot in a 2015 Tesla Model S died when it failed to spot a tractor-trailer crossing the car’s path on a highway near Gainesville.

Tesla’s Autopilot uses cameras, radar and computers to detect objects and automatically brake if the car is about to hit something. It also can steer the car to keep it centred in its lane. The company has said that before Autopilot can be used, drivers must acknowledge that it’s an “assist feature” that requires both hands on the wheel at all times and that drivers must be ready to take control.

The investigation “helps clarify that cars are still supposed to be driven by attentive people, and if people behind the wheel aren’t attentive, it’s not the technology’s fault,” said Karl Brauer of Kelley Blue Book.

NHTSA released guidelines last year that attempt to ensure safety without slowing development of semi- autonomous and selfdriving cars. The agency says self- driving features could dramatically reduce traffic deaths by eliminating human error.

The Florida crash killed Joshua Brown, 40, of Ohio. Tesla said at the time the cameras on Brown’s Model S sedan failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and that neither the car nor Brown applied the brakes.

Thomas said Brown set the cruise control at 74 mph (119 km/h) — nine mph over the limit — less than two minutes before the crash. NHTSA’s crash reconstruction showed the tractor- trailer should have been visible to Brown at least seven seconds before impact, enough time to react.

Detecting vehicles that cross in its path were beyond the capabilities of the Autopilot system, Thomas said