NTSB States Driver Killed In Tesla Crash Ignored Warnings
A driver killed in an accident that attracted nationwide attention while using Tesla's partially self-driving car ignored repeated warnings to put his hands on the wheel, federal investigators say in a report released on June 20.
The 538-page report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveals fresh details about what is believed to be the first deadly crash in which an American driver was relying on self-driving technology to steer, accelerate, and brake the vehicle.
Ohio resident Joshua Brown was killed in the highway crash in Florida when his Tesla Model S crashed into a truck that crossed his path.
The agency, which opened an investigation to explore the possibility that Tesla's Autopilot system was faulty, said it had drawn "no conclusions about how or why the crash occurred."
The report's release comes after the NHTSA said in January that it had discovered no defects in Tesla's self-driving system after completing its own investigation into the accident.
NHTSA said in January that the driver should have seen the truck "at least" seven seconds before the collision, calling it a "period of extended distraction" and that he "took no braking, steering, or other actions."
The NTSB report appears to deliver no conflicting information. The agency said the driver was traveling at 74 miles per hour, above the 65 mph limit on the road, when he collided with the truck.
The driver used the vehicle's self-driving system for 37.5 minutes of the 41 minutes of his trip, according to the NTSB. During the time the self-driving system was activated, he had his hands on the wheel for a total of only about half a minute, investigators concluded.
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