Leaked Dashcam Footage Shows Tesla Model X on Autopilot Crashing Into Police Vehicle

On February 27, 2021, a 2019 Tesla Model X was driving on a highway in Montgomery County, Texas, when it encountered a Police vehicle stopped in its lane. The police were responding to another incident when the Tesla Model X smashed into it at 54 mph. Police investigation revealed that the Autopilot was engaged at the time of the crash, making it one of the many Tesla crashes into emergency vehicles while the driver-assist system was in control of the car. Police reports also revealed that the driver was intoxicated.

The Wall Street Journal obtained exclusive dashcam footage and partial data logs from the Tesla Model X involved in the crash. The evidence shows that the car's Autopilot system recognized the stopped vehicles on the side of the road. Still, it failed to acknowledge the police vehicle stopped with the lights flashing directly in its lane. The WSJ's own investigation might explain why this happened.

According to the report, Tesla Autopilot might register an emergency vehicle too late or not at all when it flashes the emergency lights in low-light conditions. This creates hazy reflective imagery that overloads Tesla Vision cameras and causes the Autopilot to react erratically. The same pattern was discovered in at least eight similar cases when a Tesla smashed into a stopped emergency vehicle in low-light conditions.

The video and vehicle logs confirm that the Tesla Model X driver engaged the Autopilot about four minutes into the drive while the car was driving at 64 mph. The vehicle involved in the crash was fitted with a driver monitoring system based on whether the hands were detected on the steering wheel. If not, the driver is alerted to put their hands on the steering wheel. The impaired driver received the first such alert a couple of minutes into the drive and complied.

Throughout the 45-minute drive, the driver received a total of 150 such alerts, and he complied every time. This tricked the system into considering that the driver was paying enough attention to operate the vehicle on Autopilot. The logs show the system accurately detecting moving vehicles in its path, including the emergency vehicles stopped on the side of the highway responding to a previous incident. Seconds later, other police cars are visibly blocking the lane. Still, the logs show no sign that Tesla noticed them until 2.5 seconds and 37 yards before the crash.

While Tesla says this crash was a textbook DUI case, the police officers injured in the crash are suing Tesla, claiming that the Autopilot feature was responsible for the accident. None of the parties involved responded to WSJ's attempts to contact them.

The NHTSA is investigating at least 16 cases of Tesla vehicles crashing into emergency vehicles. It also broadened the investigation to assess the overall effectiveness of Tesla's Autopilot System beyond crashes with emergency vehicles. After repeated recommendations from federal investigators, Tesla began using internal cameras to monitor driver attentiveness in 2021. The EV maker also issued software updates to improve emergency vehicle detection.