Another Autopilot Crash: Tesla Model 3 Slams Right Into Overturned Truck

Tesla’s Autopilot relies mostly on cameras, and this wouldn’t be the first time that a large, light-colored, non-moving object fails to trigger braking in a vehicle on Autopilot mode. This time, it happened in Taiwan, on National Highway 1 near Zhongshan High Chiayi Water Section, and the Tesla smashed into that object at great speed.

Various angles of the crash have emerged on social media, re-opening the debate on whether Tesla needs to be more clear in its marketing of Autopilot. Legally speaking, Tesla is untouchable, because its website clearly says that Autopilot does not render the vehicle self-driving, and that the human operator must keep the hands on the wheel and the eyes on the road at all times.

This was clearly not the case here, with this driver, identified as a 53-year-old man who later admitted to cops he had Autopilot on and was not minding the road. Not only was he not looking at the road, but he somehow completely missed an oversize truck laying smack in the middle of the highway and the tiny human near the center median, desperately waving at him to catch his eye.

Cases of Tesla drivers using Autopilot to catch some Zs are not unheard of and, while there’s no confirmation yet this happened here, it could have been the case. No one with a working pair of eyes could have missed this.

The driver also told police that he saw the obstacle too late, which explains the puff of smoke in the video: he tried braking. He didn’t make any attempts to avoid the truck, so he must’ve braced for impact. The Model 3 went right through the truck and took significant damage.

Local reports don’t mention the driver’s condition after the crash, but it is believed he did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

While this could easily be turned into a case of “Tesla needs to be clearer on what Autopilot does and does not do,” it’s first and foremost a case of drivers not following through official recommendations. After so much media coverage of similar incidents, turning Autopilot on and engaging in some other, completely different activity while on the highway is the equivalent of the proverbial spitting in the wind – and complaining you got hit.

¨¨¨
Tesla Model 3 plows info overturned truck on highway. I’m sure the driver was paying complete attention to the road and wasn’t relying on autopilot because he was told the car could drive itself....$TSLAQ pic.twitter.com/cHjueqH0j4

— hand washing rooster  (@jsin86524368) June 1, 2020

All that and not a single airbag in the car appears to have gone off. That should be the bigger story here pic.twitter.com/ssi9339vOO

— hand washing rooster  (@jsin86524368) June 1, 2020