Tesla owner in California lost his life while driving at autonomous mode

A driver was unfortunately killed in a Tesla electric car accident in California, USA. The media found that the driver had posted a short video on social platforms. Praising Tesla’s fully autonomous driving configuration, the driver did not hold the steering wheel with both hands in the video.

On May 5, at a highway location in Fontana, California, a Tesla Model 3 electric car crashed into an overturned truck. The Tesla owner was killed, while the truck driver and another person who was helping the driver were killed. The motorcycle rider was injured.

The US media initially quoted police sources as saying that preliminary investigations indicated that Autopilot, the driving assistance system of Tesla electric vehicles, was in the on mode before the crash. However, last Friday, the local police made an amendment to indicate that the driving mode of the Tesla electric car at the time of the incident is still inconclusive.

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According to reports, the death of the car accident was 35-year-old Steven Hendrickson (Steven Hendrickson), who lived in Running Springs, California. On his social accounts, people saw two videos of driving a Tesla electric car. Hendrickson did not put his hands on the steering wheel as required.

The text of one of the videos read: “After a long day of work, what should I do without my fully autonomous Tesla?” The message of the other video reads: “Go home from Los Angeles after work, thank you Autopilot, this is the best car in history.”

For a long time, Tesla has called the assisted driving functions of electric vehicles “Autopilot” (meaning automatic driving in English) and “fully autonomous driving”. Some experts believe that this will mislead consumers and think that electric vehicles can themselves Complete the control. On the official website, Tesla stated that Autopilot cannot make the vehicle a self-driving vehicle.

In addition, in his Facebook account, Hendrickson posted another video shot in Tesla’s Autopilot mode. He also said: “Don’t worry, I’m in Autopilot mode.” For these videos, the Hendrickson family and Tesla officials have not yet commented (Tesla has disbanded the public relations team).

A Tesla owner’s club in Southern California said that Hendrickson has always been an active member and loves his Tesla electric cars. After his unfortunate death, his family left a widow and two children.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is already investigating more than 20 car accidents related to Tesla’s electric vehicles, including the aforementioned accident in Fontana and another car accident in Texas last month (which resulted in the deaths of two men) ).

Since 2016, at least three Tesla electric vehicles in Autopilot mode have had fatal accidents. Two of these accidents occurred in Florida. Both Tesla electric vehicles hit and got stuck under the truck body.

The National Transportation Safety and Safety Committee of the United States has stated that Tesla’s assisted driving system failed to detect in time when the truck traversed the front of the electric vehicle, which caused an accident. Of course, drivers are not paying attention to road conditions and the lack of driver monitoring systems in vehicles is also part of the reason.

|Via|