Tesla Owners in Three US Cities Hit Police Cars While on Autopilot
Last week, a traffic accident occurred in North Carolina, USA. A Tesla in autopilot mode hit a police car parked on the roadside. Although no casualties were caused, the vehicle was seriously damaged. The accident investigation found that the driver was watching a movie on his mobile phone while driving and did not pay attention to the road conditions, which caused the accident.
On the evening of August 26, US time, a traffic accident caused by a Tesla occurred in North Carolina. A doctorWhile using Tesla's autopilot and watching a movie on his phone, he crashed into a police car.
When the accident happened, the police car was parked on the side of the road, and two police officers were assisting in handling another traffic accident. The right side of the Tesla hit the left side of the police car, causing obvious damage to the vehicle. The two police officers were also hit and fell to the ground. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in this accident.
The accident was similar, and the police car parked on the roadside was targeted.
Recently, there have been many accidents in the United States due to Tesla's autonomous driving.Of the more than a dozen Tesla accidents that have occurred recently, four involved collisions with police cars.
And without exception, these accidents all involved Teslas in autopilot mode crashing into police cars parked on the roadside.
Survey results: Drivers over-trust autonomous driving
Of the four incidents involving police cars, three had clear causes:All of these occurred when the driver turned on the autonomous driving mode and did not pay attention to the road conditions.
In this recent incident in North Carolina, local traffic police chief Keith Stone said in an interview with CBS: "These accidents show that autonomous driving can never replace the driver's attention. Drivers should not completely entrust the vehicle with the autonomous driving mode and send text messages or make phone calls on their own."
In recent years, accidents involving Tesla's Autopilot driver-assistance system have sparked multiple investigations by the Federal Safety Commission.
The investigation results showed that in the fatal Model S accident in Florida in 2016, the Tesla driver relied too much on autopilot, which led to the disaster.
Autonomous driving should not be overly relied on in the short term
Following another fatal accident involving Autopilot in Mountain View in 2018, Tesla said Autopilot mode is safe to use as long as the driver remains focused and ready to take over.
But the accidents that have already occurred all suggest thatHuman drivers' trust and over-reliance on autonomous driving technology are often accompanied by tragedy.
Perhaps in the short term, automakers should reduce excessive publicity about the safety of autonomous driving, and should also appropriately warn car owners who use autonomous driving modes to pay close attention to road conditions.
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