Getty Images | NurPhoto
A Tesla vehicle being operated on Autopilot mode crashed into a stopped truck that was providing traffic control for a highway lane closure on Friday night, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
David Clough, 18, was behind the wheel of a 2016 Tesla while traveling eastbound on I-76 in Plum when he “lost control” due to the car being on Tesla’s Autopilot mode, according to a crash report issued by the State Police. Clough was cited for careless driving.
A Freightliner truck “was at a stationary position in the middle lane providing traffic control for a right lane closure for a paving detail,” the crash report said. Police say the Tesla being driven on Autopilot, which was also traveling in the middle lane, crashed into the truck’s rear end at around 10:25 pm ET.
There were no injuries to Clough or the driver of the truck. It’s not clear how much damage there was to the vehicles, but the report said that troopers were assisted by a towing service and the local fire department.
We contacted Tesla and will update this article if we get any response.
US official: Tesla shouldn’t call it “Autopilot”
Tesla says that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving “are intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment.” But many Tesla owners have relied a bit too much on the driver-assistance features.
The Pennsylvania crash is far from the first in which a Tesla vehicle hit a stopped car. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating “crashes in which Tesla models of various configurations have encountered first responder scenes and subsequently struck one or more vehicles involved with those scenes.” The analysis is focusing on 16 collisions with first responder and road maintenance vehicles.
As the Associated Press reported last month, “Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he’s concerned about Tesla’s marketing of the system, which is under investigation by his department in connection with crashes that have caused at least 14 deaths.”
“I don’t think that something should be called, for example, an Autopilot, when the fine print says you need to have your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road at all times,” Buttigieg told the AP. NHTSA data shows that Teslas using Autopilot crashed 273 times between July 2021 and May 15, 2022.
