Tesla driver accused of killing motorcyclist while using autopilot

In Washington state, a 56-year-old driver of a 2022 Tesla Model S has been charged with killing a 28-year-old motorcyclist after he turned on the camera-based driver assistance system and became distracted by his phone.

Here's What We Know

After activating autopilot, the Snohomish man reportedly stopped watching the road and looked at his phone. As a result, the electric vehicle failed to notice motorcyclist Jeffrey Nissen and crashed into him from behind at full speed.

According to police, the driver admitted to trusting the autopilot to control the car and only came back to reality when he heard the impact. Nissen flew off the motorbike under the wheels of the Tesla, where he died before emergency services arrived. The driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, although he had consumed alcohol before the accident.

Local media specify that the driver was using Tesla's standard autopilot rather than the more advanced Full Self-Driving system, which requires the driver to be in control of the road at all times. In both cases, however, Tesla's official position is that its driver assistance systems are only designed to assist a fully attentive driver.

Nevertheless, the company and its CEO Elon Musk often describe its cars as "fully self-driving," which misleads some buyers about the actual capabilities of these systems.

As a result of the incident, the Tesla driver was arrested on a charge of vehicular homicide. He was released on $100,000 bail.

The incident has raised concerns about the safety of semi-autonomous driving systems, which, according to polls, is shared by a majority of Americans.

Source: Gizmodo