On May 12, at 12:45 AM, a 2022 Tesla Model S did not make a turn right on the Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach and struck roadwork equipment. All three occupants of the EV died, and three road workers got injured. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) decided to investigate it, which is a strong sign that Autopilot could be active.
The traffic safety agency already has an ongoing investigation about Tesla’s driving aid hitting emergency vehicles. When NHTSA opened it, it included 11 crashes, which injured 17 people and killed one. We are not aware of the agency adding more cases to the investigation that happened after it started – even if that seems natural. This new crash may be quite different from the ones currently under scrutiny.
Although the roadwork equipment also had signs, the crash description makes it difficult to frame in the same way. According to the police report, the Model S was traveling eastbound in the 3000 Block of Pacific Coast Highway toward Costa Mesa when it headed to Newport Boulevard.
Instead of keeping to the right and entering Newport Boulevard, the Model S just hit the curb that divides that access from the Newport Boulevard exit into Pacific Coast Highway and kept going straight ahead, eventually crashing against the construction equipment that was on the road in front of the Newport Marina. The Middletown Press said that the crash killed Wayne Walter Swanson Jr., 40, who lived in Newport Beach, Crystal McCallum, 34, from Texas, and Andrew James Chaves, 32, from Arizona.
Tesla advocates quickly accused the victims of being drunk and said this was just another crash. The autopsy will verify if the driver was under the influence of anything. Forensic teams will also be able to determine the speed at which the Model S was traveling and if Autopilot was active or not. At this point, this is the most crucial bit to clarify.
The NHTSA involvement strongly suggests that this was the case. We’ll try to confirm that. According to Reuters, of the 35 NHTSA preliminary evaluations about Tesla since 2016 involving its advanced driver assistance systems, Autopilot has been ruled out in only three. NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) may soon also join the investigations to determine the crash cause.
If these agencies confirm Autopilot was engaged, that will reinforce the concerns people have with the way Tesla deploys beta software to the public, promising they almost make their vehicles autonomous. That practice is called “autonowashing,” and it induces customers to trust these systems more than they should.
If anything bad happens, Tesla can claim that its legal disclaimer states that drivers should be paying attention all the time. Philip Koopman defines that as “moral crumple zones:” when things go wrong, you just blame the harmed or killed customers and keep business as usual. With FSD accelerating its access to regular drivers, this new crash and NHTSA’s results are something we have to keep an eye on.
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