By Hyunjoo Jin
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -A Tesla (NASDAQ:) Model S car was in “fully self-driving” mode when it struck and killed a 28-year-old motorcyclist in the Seattle area in April, police said, putting it at its at least the second fatal accident involving the technology on which Tesla CEO Elon Musk is pinning his hopes.
The 56-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide based on his admission that he was looking at his cell phone while using the driver assistance feature, police said in a statement.
Tesla says its ‘Full Self-Driving (Supervised)’ software requires active driver supervision and does not make vehicles autonomous.
Previously, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said there had been one fatal crash involving a Tesla vehicle using FSD software between August 2022 and August 2023.
The NHTSA said it is “aware of this crash and is gathering information from local law enforcement authorities and Tesla.”
Police said the case is still under investigation, but experts say there are limitations to Tesla’s technology, which relies on cameras and artificial intelligence. Tesla’s rivals like Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) Waymo also use expensive sensors like lidars to detect the driving environment.
“So many things could go wrong” with Tesla’s camera system, says Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid. For example, he said it can inaccurately measure how far away an object is.
“It is extremely challenging to collect and manage data from all kinds of real-world elements, such as motorcycles and bicycles, in the wide range of possible weather, lightning, road and traffic conditions,” said Raj Rajkumar, professor of electrical and computer technology. at Carnegie Mellon University.
This year, Musk has ditched Tesla’s all-new, affordable cars and upped his bet on self-driving vehicles. He said he would be shocked if Tesla cannot become fully self-driving next year.
In an interview with the Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley club last weekend, he said a future vehicle will be a “little mobile lounge” where drivers can watch movies, play video games, work and even drink and sleep.
Musk has been pursuing self-driving capabilities for several years, with the technology coming under increasing regulatory and legal scrutiny.
The NHTSA began an investigation into Autopilot in August 2021 after identifying more than a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles struck stationary emergency vehicles and reviewing hundreds of crashes involving Autopilot.
In December 2023, Tesla was forced to recall almost all of its vehicles from US roads to add security to its software.
