CALIFORNIA- Chicago.cbslocal.com reports that a Tesla hit a police car on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, when the driver, a 65-year-old man, was using the vehicle’s autopilot feature. The driver only suffered minor injuries, and no one wasin the police car at the time of the accident.*
Some accidents involving Tesla’s Autopilot feature have led consumer groups to call for an investigation to be conducted by the Federal Trade Commission regarding the safety of the technology and whether marketing campaigns by the company have been misleading consumers about the abilities of the feature. The name itself, “Autopilot,” has been criticized as falsely suggesting that the car candrive autonomously.
Another accident earlier this month involved the Tesla Model S hitting a stopped firetruck. The car reportedly accelerated prior toimpact. The driver broke her ankle in the crash. According to data collected by the car, over a minute had passed without the driver touching the steering wheel before the crash. The driver, a 29-year-old woman, was looking at her phone when the crash occurred.
Tesla has released a statement reminding drivers that the Autopilot feature only should be used with the driver’s hands on the wheel. Elon Musk has been vocal about the issue as well, saying that the media attention has been putting the technology in a negative light by choosing to focus on accidents that only led to minor injuries when cars driven by humans kill about 40,000 people in the United States annually.
While engineers say that self-driving vehicles are going to be better at avoiding collisions than humans, people are still skeptical of the technology, andwill likely need some convincing. The Tesla accidents are likely contributing to the fears of 73% of people who have said that they do not trust self-driving vehicles.
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If you were injured in a vehicle accident in Illinois, contact Stein & Shulman, LLC, today to discuss your legal options with a skilled Tesla autopilot accident attorney. You can schedule a case consultation at no cost to you by calling our office at 312.422.0500.
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