NHTSA had just announced it would investigate Tesla cars on Autopilot crashing against emergency vehicles when another wreck happened. It happened in Orlando on August 28. Almost one month later, the FHP (Florida Highway Patrol) Orlando released the collision video. It shows that the FHP officer and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz that was on the road were lucky to escape unharmed.
WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando released two videos on YouTube. One is the edited version presented by the news channel, and the other is the raw footage of the incident. We have included both of them here so that you can see what happened for yourself.
If you do not have time or patience for that, the video presents the FHP patrol car parked behind the Mercedes-Benz SUV (apparently a GLS) after what seems to have been a minor crash with other vehicles. Two are parked on the roadside with hazard lights turned on, and only the SUV is on the road, crossed in the middle lane of I-4. Its left side is turned to the back of the road.
The white Tesla Model 3 hits the patrol car first. As cameras on the emergency vehicle recorded the footage, we cannot see precisely how it collides. The video only shows the camera moving abruptly and the EV’s back trying to overtake the crashed front end until it hits the Mercedes-Benz with its left side and finally stops. The officer can be seen trying to escape to the right side of the road.
The FHP trooper then comes back to check who is in the Tesla Model 3. He opens the passenger door, and an apparently terrified girl leaves the vehicle. She almost runs to the left lane, and the officer stops her, sending her to the right roadside.
According to the FHP Orlando crash report, the female driver said her Tesla was on Autopilot. The driver walked away with no injuries and with a ticket for failing to move over. ClickOrlando said that NHTSA had included this crash in the list of 11 collisions against emergency vehicles that Autopilot did not manage to avoid.
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