Elon Musk: Tesla Autopilot system ‘prevented severe injury’ in 60mph crash

Tesla co-founder Elon Musk has defended his company’s driverless Autopilot feature after a woman broke her ankle in a crash while the system was active.

According to the Associated Press, the accident occurred in South Jordan, Utah, on Friday evening, when a Tesla Model S saloon travelling at 60mph collided with the back of a fire engine that had stopped at a red light.

South Jordan Police Department has now revealed the driver admitted she had activated the car’s semi-autonomous mode, which is capable of applying the brakes when it detects a hazard in the road, at the time of the crash.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Responding to media coverage of the accident, Musk tweeted: “it’s super messed up that a Tesla crash resulting in a broken ankle is front page news and the ~40,000 people who died in US auto accidents alone in past year get almost no coverage.”

The tech tycoon went on to praise the safety of the Model S, saying that it was “amazing” the driver only broke her ankle in the accident and that “an impact at that speed usually results in severe injury or death”.

The 28-year-old driver has admitted to police that she was looking at her phone when she crashed, the Daily Mail reports. Tesla requires drivers to remain alert and keep their hands on the wheel at all times when Autopilot is engaged.

Since the driver was not fully focused on the road, it is unlikely that the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the accident, the newspaper says.

This is not the first time a Tesla has collided with a fire engine while its Autopilot mode was engaged.

In January, a driver escaped serious injury after his Tesla Model S drove into the back of a fire engine at 65mph.

The drive blamed the car’s Autopilot mode, which was active at the time. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.