• 278 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 278 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 280 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 680 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 684 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 686 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 689 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 690 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 691 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 692 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 693 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 697 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 697 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 698 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 700 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 700 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 704 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 704 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 704 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 707 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Breaking News

Tesla “Autopilot” Crashes Into Police Car

Tesla

A Tesla Model S crashed into a parked police vehicle in Laguna Beach, California yesterday, becoming the latest in a string of accidents involving Tesla cars, whose drivers claim the car was in Autopilot mode when they happened. This driver is no exception: according to a Reuters report, he told the police the Autopilot was switched on when the car crashed into the back of the police vehicle.

Tesla has not confirmed or denied the deployment of the Autopilot semiautomatic driving system yet, but the company has said time and again that deploying the Autopilot does not make cars impervious to accidents, and that even when it is deployed, the driver must keep their hands on the wheel at all times.

This was not the case with another Tesla crash, in Utah, where the police investigation found the driver had enabled the Autopilot 1.22 minutes before the crash into a stationary fire truck in front of the Tesla, which was going at 60 mph. After enabling the system, she took her hands off the wheel and did not touch it again until after the accident.

Another two crashes involving Teslas have occurred since the start of the year, one with fatal consequences. In both cases the Autopilot was switched on, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, Tesla Model S has become the most expensive car to insure in the United States. The average annual insurance paid on the model is US$1,789.48 and the average annual collision coverage paid is US$1,310.40. Some insurers, Electrek recalls, last year upped their rates for Tesla owners on the grounds of higher than usual claim frequency. At the time, Tesla countered the argument by saying the high-performance Model S and Model X were compared with much less powerful cars.

In any case, that’s four accidents involving Teslas since the start of the year, and another four last year. While CEO Elon Musk likes to note that this is much less than the industry average, Tesla certainly attracts more media attention than other carmakers because of its Autopilot system and claims it is much safer than comparable vehicles.

By Irina Slav for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment