Five cops suing Tesla after self-driving car mows them over during traffic stop, sending them to the hospital
SAN FRANCISCO POLITICIANS GIVE OK TO “SELF DRIVING CARS” AFTER TESLA AND OTHER COMPANIES PAY THEM BRIBES
According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal the Model X had struck a police vehicle while travelling at 54 mph in Texas on February 27 2021. It is alleged that the impaired driver of the car over-relied on the Model X’s autopilot system, which is said to have given off 150 warnings to take control of the vehicle over 34 minutes. Footage obtained by the WSJ shows the dramatic footage of the car driving right into the rear of a police vehicle. All five officers who had been on the scene are now suing the car company after being injured as a result of the collision.
Five Texas cops suing Tesla after self-driving Model X car hit them during traffic stop, sending them to the hospital
- The group of officers is suing the car company after being hit by a driver who was said to be relying on autopilot
- The five constables suffered injuries during the incident and claim that the autopilot feature was directly responsible
- Tesla has said that the driver was at fault and denies the autopilot is to blame
Five police officers are suing Tesla after being injured by a self driving Model X car that hit them during a traffic stop.
According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal the Model X had struck a police vehicle while travelling at 54 mph in Texas on February 27 2021.
It is alleged that the impaired driver of the car over-relied on the Model X’s autopilot system, which is said to have given off 150 warnings to take control of the vehicle over 34 minutes.
Footage obtained by the WSJ shows the dramatic footage of the car driving right into the rear of a police vehicle.
All five officers who had been on the scene are now suing the car company after being injured as a result of the collision.
The group of officers are suing the car company after being hit by a driver who was said to be relying on autopilot, the Tesla is pictured here in blue after the incident
They claim that the autopilot feature was directly responsible for the collision, but Tesla has said that the driver was at fault and denies the autopilot is to blame.
The autopilot system in the car is programmed to take over driving tasks but the driver is still expected to stay alert and keep their hands on the steering wheel.
Lawyer Tony Buzbee is representing the officers and originally filed the suit in September of 2021.
He previously told KHOU: ‘These officers, these deputy constables, were very brave to bring this case and we are going to make Tesla accountable.’
Reports at the time indicated that injuries ranged from scrapes to back injuries, one of them may have suffered a possible broken arm.
The system inside the car checks that the driver’s hands are indeed on the wheel, and police say that he was able to apply enough torque for autopilot to continue.
By the time the Autopilot system sees the directly in front of the Tesla there’s only 2.5 seconds and 37 yards to react.
According to the WSJ, autopilot first tries to stop the Model X. It then disengages with the expectation an alert driver will take over.
Reports at the time indicated that injuries ranged from scrapes to back injuries, one of them may have suffered a possible broken arm
Lawyer Tony Buzbee, pictured here, is representing the officers and originally filed the suit in September of 2021
This incident is one of 16 similar crashes currently being probed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Out of eight incident reports obtained by the WSJ, six took place as emergency vehicles’ lights were flashing.
Tesla has since updated its Autopilot software, but one of the investigations pertains to a crash that took place after the update.
New Tesla cars have also now been fitted with internal cameras to keep an eye on driver alertness.
In March of this year, it was ruled that a Tesla that crashed into a firetruck killing the driver was on autopilot at the time.
Emergency responders had to cut open the Tesla to remove the passenger following the fatal incident which left four Contra Costa County firefighters with minor injuries.
The car plowed into the fire truck which had been parked on a Northern California freeway to shield a crew clearing another accident on the interstate
The Tesla Model S vehicle was completely destroyed in the crash
The truck had its lights on and was parked diagonally on northbound lanes of the freeway to protect responders to an earlier accident that did not result in injuries.
Elon Musk said in 2016 that the vehicle’s ‘Autopilot’ system was ‘probably better’ than a human driver, despite recent tests indicating cars failed to detect mannequin children multiple times.
A probe into more than 830,000 of the company’s vehicles and its advertising claims left investigators wondering whether Tesla misled consumers, investors and regulators over the feature.
Just before the February crash, Tesla announced that it would recall 363,000 of its vehicles, including the Model S, due to potential issues with their self-driving capabilities.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the Full Self-Driving Beta software allows the vehicle to ‘exceed speed limits.’
