According to the Associated Press, California prosecutors have filed manslaughter charges against Tesla drivers who ran a red light and hit another car in 2019 and killed two people. At the time of the accident, the driver was using Tesla's Autopilot assisted driving system.
Police said that on December 29, 2019, a Tesla Model S was driving at high speed in the suburbs of Los Angeles, ran a red light while passing through an intersection, and hit a Honda Civic, resulting in the death of two people in the Honda car on the spot, while the two people in the Tesla car were not life-threatening. Last October, California prosecutors filed two counts of manslaughter against Tesla drivers, who pleaded not guilty. A hearing on the case will be held on February 23.
It was the first criminal charge involving a widely used autonomous driving system. It is estimated that about 760,000 Tesla vehicles in the United States alone are equipped with assisted driving systems. Previously, there have been cases of criminal charges in the accident of an autonomous driving test vehicle.
Late at night on March 18, 2018, an Uber self-driving test vehicle in Arizona hit a pedestrian and killed him. At that time, the vehicle was running in autonomous mode, and the safety officer driver was sitting in the driver's seat. Internal video showed that the driver was not looking at the road ahead at the time of the accident. In 2020, Arizona authorities filed a manslaughter charge against the driver. The case remains infallible.
In recent years, Tesla's autopilot accidents have occurred frequently and attracted the attention of US regulatory authorities. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) formally launched an investigation into Tesla's driver assistance system in August after 11 tesla crashes into parked emergency vehicles on the side of the road, killing 17 people.
NHTSA told The Associated Press in a statement that "every vehicle requires a human driver to be in control at all times," even though it has a partially automated system. Tesla said on its Autopilot page that it is "designed to be used with fully engaged drivers who have their hands on the steering wheel and are ready to take over." ”
Compilation/Synthesis: Nandu reporter Li Yaning
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