It looked as though Tesla scored a victory after the investigation into the Texas double fatality proved the EV involved in the crash had indeed not been running on Autopilot, just like the carmaker and its CEO, Elon Musk, claimed.
It was a breath of fresh air for Tesla after a deluge of bad press, some deserved, some not so much, and a chance for its advanced driver's aid system to reclaim some of the lost credit. However, as long as the possibility to abuse the system is there, things will never go smoothly for Autopilot.
First, we had the case of Param Sharma, the 25-year-old better known as the Tesla Model 3 backseat driver. The "influencer" gained quick notoriety by posting images of himself cruising down the highway while sitting in the back and using his feet to provide occasional steering wheel inputs. His antics were captured by other drivers as well, and the police were eventually involved, with Param spending one night in jail as a result.
Now, the police are once again thrown in the mix of an Autopilot case (the use of the system has not been confirmed by Tesla yet), except this time they're on the receiving end. According to NBC News, a Washington State Patrol Ford (WSP) Explorer was hit by a 2015 Tesla Model S while stopped on the shoulder in response to a previous crash.
The WSP officer was not in the vehicle at the time of impact, and the Model S driver didn't suffer any injury. According to the same sources quoting a WSP release (currently unavailable), the EV driver claimed he had the car in Autopilot. He also said he expected the system to spot the stopped vehicle (which had its emergency lights on but also blocked part of the road to protect the collision scene under investigation) and avoid it on its own.
The incident happened on Monday, May 17, so the investigation is still underway. However, if the driver's claims check out, this goes to show how little some Tesla owners know about the Autopilot feature. The advanced driver's aid system is notorious for failing to pick up stationary objects, with one such incident resulting in a fatal crash in China. Its combination of radar sensors and video cameras has a tendency to miss vehicles standing still, which is one more reason why drivers should pay attention at all times and be ready to intervene.
According to the report, the driver has been issued a ticket for the collision, which left the police cruiser in pretty bad shape.
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