Tesla's self-driving function being investigated in US after fatality

Tesla Motors is under investigation in the US after a man died while using the company's self-driving function on his Model S car.

Joshua Brown, 40, died in Florida in May after his Tesla Motors Model S collided with a truck pulling a trailer while on autopilot. It is the first known death caused by a self-driving car. The driver of the truck was unhurt.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will examine Tesla’s autopilot feature which allows a car to automatically change lanes and react to traffic. It could take months before NHTSA reaches a conclusion.

In a statement Tesla said “they were beyond saddened” by the death of Brown.

The California-based company said they contacted NHTSA immediately after the incident. Tesla said the car was on a divided highway with autopilot on when a tractor-trailer drove across the motorway perpendicular to the Model S car.

“Neither autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S.

“Had the Model S impacted the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents”.

The company said that Tesla disables autopilot by default and maintained that the technology is new and is still in a public beta phase.

“When drivers activate autopilot, the acknowledgment box explains, among other things, that autopilot ‘is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times’, and that ‘you need to maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle’ while using it.

“Additionally, every time that autopilot is engaged, the car reminds the driver to ‘Always keep your hands on the wheel. Be prepared to take over at any time’. The system also makes frequent checks to ensure that the driver's hands remain on the wheel and provides visual and audible alerts if hands-on is not detected. It then gradually slows down the car until hands-on is detected again”.

The NHTSA investigation could lead to a recall, if that occurred the company would put an ‘over-the-air’ update on its cars, rather than taking them back.

The electronic vehicle company introduced the autopilot function in October last year. In January it introduced new limits by restricting the use of the autopilot mode on residential roads and roads without a central divider, and the car was modified to reduce its speed when it sees curves on the motorway.

In October 2015 Tesla chief executive Elon Musk warned that drivers should keep their hands on the wheel at all times as the technology was still in the testing stage.

“We’re being especially cautious at this early stage, so we’re advising drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case. The software is very new.”

He maintained that autopilot is the future of driving and said last year, “In the long term, it will be safer than a person driving.”

Shares in Tesla Motors rose by 0.99% to 212.28 cents at 11.32 BST.