Tesla driver says he was asleep and using FSD when he crashed into highway patrol cars

A Tesla driver told authorities he was asleep and relying on the vehicle's Full Self-Driving system when his car struck two parked California Highway Patrol vehicles on Interstate 80, according to the California Highway Patrol. The crash injured two CHP officers who were responding to an earlier incident on the highway. Video released by the CHP shows the Tesla passing flares, cones, and emergency lights before hitting the back of a parked patrol vehicle.

The CHP said both officers were seriously injured and were taken to a hospital. In the wake of the crash, the agency warned that the driver-assist mode's name does not mean the vehicle drives itself, and that the technology does not release drivers from their duty to operate their cars safely. The crash adds to a string of collisions involving Teslas and parked emergency vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla's Autopilot software in 2021 after numerous collisions with parked emergency vehicles. The regulator later issued a report concluding that the driver-assist features did not do enough to keep drivers engaged. That report connected the features to hundreds of crashes and dozens of deaths in cases where both the system and the driver failed to respond.

In 2023, Tesla released an update for Autopilot that added controls and alerts intended to prompt drivers to remain in full control of the car when Autosteer is enabled. NHTSA subsequently opened another investigation to determine whether those changes went far enough. The agency has not announced a conclusion in that inquiry.

The incident highlights the continuing scrutiny of Tesla's driver-assist software in the United States, where federal regulators are examining how the systems monitor driver attention. Tesla markets the feature as Full Self-Driving, while the CHP's statement following the crash stressed that the mode remains a driver-assist technology rather than a fully autonomous one. Neither Tesla nor the driver has publicly responded to the crash.

More technology news from TechManNews.