Abstract:
The driving recorder video released by the California Highway Patrol showed that a Tesla drove into a closed lane on the highway and hit a patrol car parked at the scene of the accident, causing serious injuries to two police officers in the car. The driver later told the police that he was asleep at the time and that the vehicle was running Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) assisted driving function. This statement currently comes from the driver's statement, and the specific status in the system data record cannot be confirmed based on this.
The accident occurred around midnight on October 13 in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 near Fairfield, Solano County, California, west of the Air Base Parkway exit. Local police officers were responding to a fatal traffic accident that closed several lanes. The California Highway Patrol said the Tesla involved drove into a closed area at high speed. There were flares, traffic cones and multiple emergency vehicles with warning lights on, and then hit the back of a patrol car carrying two police officers.
The two police officers were seriously injured and were discharged from the hospital after treatment. They are currently recovering; the Tesla driver suffered minor injuries. Video released by the police showed that the vehicle did not slow down even after passing the on-site warning facility, and eventually hit the patrol car. Local media said the driver was a 22-year-old man from Sacramento.
The California Highway Patrol specifically emphasized that despite the name "Full Autonomous Driving", FSD is not a true driverless system, but an SAE Level 2 driving assistance technology that requires continuous driver supervision. The driver must still be attentive and ready to take over at any time, and cannot sleep while driving or hand over responsibility for safety to the system. Tesla officials also call this feature "supervised full self-driving."
This accident also made the outside world once again pay attention to the issue of driver monitoring of driving assistance systems. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has previously investigated accidents involving Tesla Autopilot collisions with emergency vehicles, and will continue to evaluate the adequacy of remedial measures after Tesla recalls related vehicles and adjusts driver reminders in 2023. This investigation is focused on Autopilot and is not a determination of the status of the FSD in this accident; there is currently no evidence that the regulatory agency has reached a conclusion on this new accident.
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