Accidents involving Tesla cars with active Autopilot system killed 17 people in the U.S.
In the United States, Tesla electric cars with an active Autopilot system have been involved in various accidents 736 times since 2019, in which a total of 17 people died. This was reported on June 10 by The Washington Post, citing data from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
It is noted that the accidents in question were “significantly more than previously reported.” U.S. authorities in June 2022 for the first time presented their estimates of accidents with electric cars Tesla, in which the system Autopilot was activated. At that time, three deaths due to the Autopilot were recorded.
According to experts of the publication, one of the reasons for the increase in the number of such accidents could be the decisions made by the Tesla company about the Autopilot system.
According to The Washington Post, Tesla’s autopilot system has been increasingly criticized in recent years. Drivers often ignore the fact that the electronic assistant is not designed to work without human involvement. The company points out that the technology is an electronic assistant and can correct the car’s course or use the brakes. However, the driver still needs to keep his hands on the steering wheel and be ready to take control if necessary.
Earlier, on May 15, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigic said that Tesla should not call its driving system autopilot because people still need to be in control. He also expressed concern about the marketing of Tesla’s system, which is under investigation by his department for accidents and crashes that have resulted in at least 14 deaths.
On Feb. 17, it was reported that Tesla was recalling more than 362,000 vehicles in the U.S. to update its beta version of its autopilot software. NHTSA believes Tesla’s software allows a vehicle to “exceed speed limits or drive through intersections in an illegal or unpredictable manner that increases the risk of an accident.”
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