Tesla: SUV self-driving in crash

Tesla has acknowledged that its Autopilot partial self-driving system was engaged when one of its Model X electric crossover SUVs crashed a week ago, killing the driver.

Tesla said on its website Friday that it has deduced from logs recovered from the SUV that the driver’s hands hadn’t been detected on the steering wheel for six seconds before the March 23 crash. It did not say the Autopilot system was at fault in the accident.

Tesla’s disclosure is sure to figure in a National Transportation Safety Board inquiry.

Although Tesla’s Autopilot system is only a partial self-driving system – more like enhanced cruise control – the idea of cars driving themselves has fallen under scrutiny since an Uber car in self-driving mode struck and killed a woman walking a bicycle across a street in Tempe, Arizona.

The crash in Mountain View, California, not far from Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto, could renew questions about Autopilot, which was also engaged when a Model S sedan crashed into a truck and killed its driver in Florida last year.

In the latest crash, Tesla said Autopilot’s adaptive cruise control was in the minimum following distance setting.