Tesla Autopilot lands owner a careless driving ticket after it slams into parked minivan
A New Jersey Tesla driver received a ticket from the South Brunswick police for hitting a parked minivan. However, they weren’t really driving the EV at the time. Instead, the occupant was relying on Tesla Autopilot to do the driving when it swerved to avoid another vehicle and plowed into the van.
A New Jersey Tesla owner is on the hook for a crash after their EV hit a parked minivan while using Autopilot
Almost a decade ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the brand’s new EVs would have “all hardware necessary for full self-driving.” Still, despite big, bold claims that the electric automaker’s vehicles would eventually hit the road with little to no driver supervision, Tesla’s full self-driving architecture has built some bad press. In some cases, it’s YouTubers fooling the system with faux walls. However, in others, it’s a crash as a result of Tesla Autopilot’s decision-making on the road.
A Tesla occupant experienced just that after trusting Autopilot to drive them around South Brunswick, New Jersey. According to the South Brunswick Police Department, the Tesla was using its self-driving suite when it turned onto a narrow side street. That’s when the Tesla came face-to-face with a white Ford Explorer on the skinny street, forcing it to take evasive action.
Unfortunately, that action sent the Tesla EV into a nearby driveway. But the Tesla sped up instead of stopping, slamming into a parked Honda Odyssey minivan. “When they turned, they were essentially facing another vehicle head-on,” Detective Sergeant Tim Hoover said. “According to them, the car reacted to avoid the head-on collision and ended up accelerating straight into a residential driveway.”
Fortunately, the van’s owner wasn’t in the vehicle at the time. However, he was nearby and claimed that his “feet were underneath the van” after the hit. Still, and luckily so, the Honda owner was uninjured in the dramatic faux pas.
The Tesla reportedly mistook the driveway for another road and a way to avoid the oncoming SUV. But that doesn’t explain why Autopilot prompted the Tesla to accelerate into the parked minivan. Needless to say, police pinned the blame on the Tesla owner. The police slapped them with a careless driving ticket, per ABC 7 NY.
“In the state of New Jersey, even if you have a fully automatic function on your vehicles, your Teslas, or anything that can drive on autopilot. You still have to take due regard to drive with caution,” Detective Sergeant Hoover said.
