NTSB: Tesla’s autopilot was engaged during crash
A Tesla driver activated the high-tech car’s semi-autonomous Autopilot feature just seconds before he died in a crash with a semitrailer west of Delray Beach, federal crash investigators determined.
Preliminary data and video from the 2018 Tesla Model 3 show the driver turned on Autopilot about 10 seconds before the crash on State Road 7, a divided highway with turn lanes in the median.
From less than eight seconds until the time of the crash, his hands were not detected on the steering wheel, according to a preliminary report from the Na
tional Transportation Safety Board.
Neither the system nor driver Jeremy Beren Banner made an effort to stop the car, the report said.
The crash occurred at 6:17 a.m. March 1 when Banner, 50, drove under the semitrailer as it was traveling across the road to make a left turn. The Tesla’s roof was sheared off.
The Model 3 was going 68 miles per hour when it hit the trailer on State Road 7, where the speed limit is 55 mph, the report said.
Tesla said in a statement Thursday that Banner did not use Autopilot at any other time during the drive before the crash. Vehicle logs show that he took his hands off the steering wheel immediately after activating Autopilot, the statement said. The crash remains under investigation.
The report brings lingering questions about reliability of Autopilot back to the forefront. Critics point to examples of the technology seeming to go awry as evidence that the auto industry isn’t as close to developing fully autonomous navigation systems as proponents claim.
Tesla said it’s saddened by the crash and that drivers have traveled more than 1 billion miles while using Autopilot. “When used properly by an attentive driver who is prepared to take control at all times, drivers supported by Autopilot are safer than those operating without assistance,” the company said.
Autopilot is one of the most popular of the high-tech features that have propelled dramatic sales growth of Teslas over the past two years. Others include the cars’ all electric engines, touchscreen-enabled controls, and a la carte-style upgrades that owners can purchase and download directly to the cars’ operating systems.
The circumstances of the West Delray crash are similar to one that occurred in May 2016 near Gainesville. Joshua Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio, was traveling in a Tesla Model S on a divided highway and using the Autopilot system when he struck a semitrailer that was stopped across U.S. Highway 27A as its driver waited to make a turn.
An NTSB investigation into that crash focused on limitations of the Autopilot system and criticized Tesla for failing to implement safeguards to prevent drivers from becoming disengaged and over-reliant on Autopilot.
The NTSB concluded that Autopilot did not malfunction when the car failed to stop for the semitrailer in Gainesville. While Autopilot can recognize and maneuver around vehicles traveling ahead of a Tesla in the same lane, it was not designed to react to objects such as the semitrailer that suddenly pull across the Tesla’s path, the report said.
After that, NTSB officials urged the car maker to restrict use of the system to limited access, divided highways such as the nation’s interstate highway system that have entry ramps to ensure all vehicles are traveling in the same direction. State Road 7 and U.S. 27A, are not limited access divided highways.
That recommendation, which has not been implemented, came after Tesla modified Autopilot to more frequently alert drivers to keep their hands on the wheel. After three warnings, Autopilot stops working and drivers must restart the car before they can use it again. But the NTSB said that safeguard wasn’t enough to satisfy its concerns.
Another NTSB report expected to be released by the end of the year will focus on driver-assist technologies and lessons learned from recent crashes, including a March 2018 crash that killed a driver whose Model X veered out of his lane and into a highway barrier in Mountain View, Calif., NTSB spokesman Christopher O’Neill said by email. The report will reference the West Delray crash and a January 2018 crash in Culver City, Calif., involving a Model S operating on Autopilot that crashed into the back of a parked fire truck.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to predict that his company is on the verge of enabling its cars to operate with full autonomy — meaning they will be able to drive themselves anywhere in the world without human monitoring. While Musk formerly predicted that capability would be unveiled by the end of the year, he said in late April that the technology would be ready by mid-2020, according to the technology-oriented website The Verge.
The West Delray crash was the third fatal crash of a Tesla within a year in South Florida.
The NTSB is investigating a high-speed crash of a 2014 Tesla Model S that killed two teens and injured another in Fort Lauderdale in May 2018. Investigators want to know why the car’s battery pack exploded, engulfing the car in flames.
In February 2019, a 2016 Model S left the road “for an unknown reason,” swerved through three lanes of traffic, hit a median and palm tree and burst into flames. The driver was trapped inside and died.
Investigators haven’t yet said whether Autopilot was activated in either of those Teslas.