The Tesla car on autopilot collided with a police car at a speed of 86 km / h

NHTSA, the top US federal road safety agency, has investigated more than 20 incidents in recent years where Teslas equipped with self-driving technology have been involved in crashes, often with fatal results.

Now a new thread has been updated after the newspaper The Wall Street Journal published a video Which shows how a Tesla Model X crashed into a police car that was parked on the shoulder of the road while monitoring traffic.

This is the 16th collision between a Tesla and an emergency vehicle that NHTSA has investigated.

drunk driver

The incident occurred in Montgomery, Texas, in February 2021, but the video material has only recently been made public.

Five police officers who were injured announced that they will sue Tesla. The driver of the car, which was initially stopped by the police for examination, was also injured.

But Tesla claims responsibility for the accident lies with the man who drove the car, a 2019 version of the Model X.

Basically, the legislation states that the driver is in charge in cars with self-driving technology at Level 2.

The driver was allegedly intoxicated and, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), must have been warned to keep his hands on the wheel more than 150 times during the 34-minute drive — the last of which just seconds before the accident.

Hit at a speed of 86 km / h

Radar and cameras are both present on the 2019 Model X, and they’re equipment that should work together satisfactorily to record movements. But experts tell the WSJ that bright lights from emergency vehicles can confuse camera technology.

Video from the crash shows that the autopilot system registered things in the road approx. 2.5 seconds before the crash, and the car then attempted to brake, before the system came to a complete stop prior to the crash.

Then the Tesla car crashed into one of the five police cars, which were partially parked on the shoulder of the road, at a speed of 86 km / h.