Tesla driver who put EV on autopilot says sensors IGNORED truck when collision happened

Tesla driver who put the EV on autopilot says its sensors IGNORED truck stopped in front of it and rammed into the back of the semi

  • The unknown model is seen in the footage driving in Milpitas, California, which is in the San Francisco Bay area, on January 13
  • The electric vehicle is moving in heavy, ‘stop-and-go’ traffic behind a car carrier truck for several minutes
  • The driver writes in a summary posted online with the video that the vehicle is only going about 10 miles-per-hour and that it was set to three car lengths
  • The driver writes that the collision resulted after the ‘cameras, radar, and sensors’ the auto pilot relies on ‘suddenly ignored the giant semi’ 
  • A report was made to the EV maker, the driver said. Drivers have reported several similar problems with auto pilot, which has been blamed for three fatal crashes 

New footage has emerged showing the moment a Tesla electric vehicle driving on Autopilot crashed into the back of a truck in California earlier this month.

The driver posted the video online, describing in a summary of the footage the moment when the unknown model Tesla experiences the Autopilot failure on January 13 while driving in Milpitas, in the San Francisco Bay area.

The footage, posted on Rumble.com, shows the vehicle moving slowly in heavy, ‘stop-and-go’ traffic behind a car carrier truck. 

Scoll down for video 

Footage has emerged showing a Tesla vehicle driving on Autopilot crashing into the back of a truck in California earlier this month

While driving in Milpitas, the Tesla inched closer to the car carrier truck

While driving in Milpitas, the Tesla inched closer to the car carrier truck

The footage, posted on Rumble.com, shows the vehicle moving slowly in heavy, 'stop-and-go' traffic behind the truck, stopping for a moment before the collision takes place

The footage, posted on Rumble.com, shows the vehicle moving slowly in heavy, ‘stop-and-go’ traffic behind the truck, stopping for a moment before the collision takes place

The driver writes in the summary posted with the video that the collision resulted after 'cameras, radar, and sensors' that the auto pilot relies on 'suddenly ignored the giant semi'

The driver writes in the summary posted with the video that the collision resulted after ‘cameras, radar, and sensors’ that the auto pilot relies on ‘suddenly ignored the giant semi’

The driver writes in the summary posted with the video that the vehicle was only only going about 10 miles-per-hour and that the ‘Autopilot’ distance was set to three car lengths. 

The driver writes that the collision resulted after the ‘cameras, radar, and sensors’ the Autopilot relies on ‘suddenly ignored the giant semi’. 

A report was made to the EV maker, the driver said. A Tesla spokesperson did not immediately respond when DailyMail.com reached out.

Drivers have reported several similar problems with auto pilot. A federal probe into a 12th Tesla crash in December, that was believed to be tied to the auto pilot system, which already had been blamed for four fatal accidents.

Timeline of fatal crashes tied to Tesla Autopilot 

January 20, 2016 in China: Gao Yaning, 23, died when the Tesla Model S he was driving slammed into a road sweeper on a highway near Handan, a city about 300 miles south of Beijing. Chinese media reported that Autopilot was engaged. 

May 7, 2016 in Williston, Florida: Joshua D. Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio died when cameras in his Tesla Model S failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky.

The National Transportation and Safety Board found that the truck driver’s failure to yield the right of way and a car driver’s inattention due to overreliance on vehicle automation were the probable cause of the crash.

The NTSB also noted that Tesla Autopilot permitted the car driver to become dangerously disengaged with driving. A DVD player and Harry Potter movies were found in the car.

March 23, 2018 in Mountain View, California: Apple software engineer Walter Huang, 38, died in a crash on U.S. Highway 101 with the Autopilot on his Tesla engaged.

The vehicle accelerated to 71 mph seconds before crashing into a freeway barrier, federal investigators found.

The NTSB, in a preliminary report on the crash, also said that data shows the Model X SUV did not brake or try to steer around the barrier in the three seconds before the crash in Silicon Valley.

 March 1, 2019 in Delray, Florida: Jeremy Banner, 50, died when his 2018 Tesla Model 3 slammed into a semi-truck.

NTSB investigators said Banner turned on the autopilot feature about 10 seconds before the crash, and the autopilot did not execute any evasive maneuvers to avoid the crash.

The most recent deadly crash happened in March in Delray, Florida, when Jeremy Banner’s 2018 Tesla Model 3 slammed into a semi-truck, killing the 50-year-old driver. 

NTSB investigators said Banner turned on the Autopilot feature about 10 seconds before the crash, and the Autopilot did not execute any evasive maneuvers to avoid the collision.

The three other fatal crashes date back to 2016.  

Tesla, on its website, calls Autopilot ‘the future of driving’.

‘All new Tesla cars come standard with advanced hardware capable of providing Autopilot features today, and full self-driving capabilities in the future—through software updates designed to improve functionality over time.’

Other videos have surfaced revealing the technology’s glitches. 

Footage posted on Reddit in March shows a driver having to take over the wheel of the vehicle because it kept veering towards a metal barrier while driving on Autopilot.

Other videos have shown Teslas on Autopilot working with other on-board systems to avoid calamity.

A Tesla owner in November posted video showing his vehicle’s Autopilot detecting a group of ducks crossing the street and automatically swerving to save the unsuspecting animals.

In footage captured from a TeslaCam, the vehicle’s integrated dashcam feature, the owner of a Tesla Model 3 is cruising down an empty roadway on Autopilot.

The vehicle easily navigates the obstacle-devoid highway at a steady speed, demonstrating the Tesla’s ability to travel lengths without human direction.

Using one of the eight cameras used to detect incoming objects, the Tesla quickly swerves to the right and barely misses the waddling group.

Instantly, the car readjusts itself into the correct lane and continues to drive without any apparent incidents.

The driver of the vehicle from the latest video footage showing the Tesla striking the rear of the car carrier truck said that the Autopilot feature had been used on the vehicle without fail for 20,000 miles with ‘no incidents’ before the collision. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk