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In March of 2018, a Tesla Model X on a California freeway drove straight into a highway divider whereupon the car\u2019s battery pack burst into flames. Tragically, the driver of the Model X was killed in the crash. At the time of the accident, the Model X driver had the Autopilot feature engaged, a fact which led many to ask about the utility and safety of the feature altogether.<\/p>\n
A little less than two years later, we now have some more information about the crash. According to a new report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Model X involved in the crash had veered towards the highway divider on a handful of previous occasions.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg<\/em> reports:<\/p>\n \u201cThe situation occurred four days before at the same location as the March 2018 crash and several weeks earlier, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report, citing data from the Tesla SUV\u2019s computer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The report further states that the Model X driver \u2014 Walter Huang \u2014 had previously complained that the car had a tendency to veer towards the highway barrier during his daily commute to work.<\/p>\n \u201cWalter said the car would veer toward the barrier in the mornings when he went to work,\u201d the Huang family\u2019s attorney wrote in a response to NTSB questions.<\/p>\n To this point, Huang\u2019s wife Sevonne sat down for an interview with ABC shortly after the 2018 accident and revealed the following:<\/p>\n Sevonne Huang: \u201cAnd he want to show me, but a lot of time it doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d Notably, Huang\u2019s family is suing Tesla over the crash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Shortly after last year\u2019s incident, Tesla issued the following statement on the crash:<\/p>\n In the moments before the collision, which occurred at 9:27 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd, Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum. The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver\u2019s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision. The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Of course, Tesla\u2019s statement begs the question: Why didn\u2019t the vehicle\u2019s software take any defensive action with 150 meters and five seconds to spare?<\/p>\n As to how the crash transpired, a Tesla owner recorded this video in the wake of the crash where we can see a Tesla on Autopilot almost careen into a highway divider before the driver assumes control of the car.<\/p>\n\n
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Dan Noyes: \u201cHe told you that the car would drive to that same barrier?\u201d
Sevonne: \u201cYes.\u201d
Noyes: \u201cThe same barrier that he finally hit?\u201d
Sevonne: \u201cYeah, that\u2019s why I saw the news. I knew that\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n