U.S. safety board investigating Tesla crash

AUTOS

• The U. S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the California crash of a Tesla Model S electric car that may have been operating under its semi- autonomous “Autopilot” system.

It’s the second time the board has looked into a Tesla crash, and likely means that it wants information about whether Autopilot was on and if its sensors somehow failed to see a stopped fire truck Monday on Interstate 405 in Culver City near Los Angeles.

The board sent two investigators to Culver City, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said Wednesday. The NTSB said on Twitter that investi- gators will focus on driver and vehicle factors.

The NTSB in September determined that design limitations of the Tesla Model S Autopilot played a major role in a May 2016 fatal crash in Florida involving a vehicle operating under Autopilot. But it blamed the crash on an inattentive Tesla driver’s overreliance on technology and a truck driver who made a left turn in front of the car.

The California investigation comes as the U. S. Congress and federal agencies grapple with how to regulate autonomous vehicles and those with systems that are partially self-driving.

The systems can significantly reduce the number of crashes, but computer- driven vehicles also can make mistakes.

Tesla wouldn’t say if Autopilot was working at the time of the Culver City crash, but said in a statement Monday that drivers must stay attentive when it’s in use. The company would not comment on the investigation.

The NTSB also recommended that automakers develop systems to make sure drivers pay attention while using semi-autonomous systems, other than detecting the pressure of hands on the steering wheel.