Tesla Crashes Into Michigan Patrol Car, Had Autopilot On: Police

EATON COUNTY, MI — A Tesla Model Y with its Autopilot feature on struck a Michigan State Police car early Wednesday morning, according to authorities.

An officer with the department was investigating a car crash involving a deer on Interstate 96 near Waverly Road in Eaton County when, around 1:12 a.m., the Tesla struck his patrol vehicle. The officer's vehicle was parked on the side of the road with its emergency lights on at the time, state police said.

No injuries were reported, and police said the Tesla's driver, a 22-year-old from Lansing, Michigan, was cited with failure to move over and driving with a suspended license.

The crash is just the latest in a series of incidents across the United States involving collisions by Tesla vehicles.

Federal agencies including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Transportation Safety Board that have investigated Tesla crashes have often focused on the vehicle’s Autopilot feature.

The NHTSA is investigating whether the feature was being used during a crash last week in Detroit, Michigan, where a Tesla T-boned the trailer of a big rig truck, sending the car’s driver and passenger to the hospital, according to a report from WJBK.

In March 2019, the driver of a Tesla Model 3 was killed in a crash in which their vehicle struck the trailer of a commercial vehicle in Florida, according to The Associated Press. The vehicle drove beneath the trailer, tearing the roof from the car.

Investigators with the NTSB determined the driver was using the vehicle's Autopilot feature at the time, according to the AP report.

The agency also found that Walter Huang, an Apple engineer, was using his Tesla Model X's Autopilot feature on March 23, 2018, when it crashed into a concrete barrier on the 101 freeway in Mountain View, California, killing him.

Huang previously told relatives his car had issues with the feature where it would attempt to steer him off the road, according to The Washington Post.

The Autopilot feature is touted on the company's website as assisting drivers with the "most burdensome parts of driving" by having the car "steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane."

For $10,000, a Tesla vehicle can come equipped with "Full-Self Driving Capability" — which, according to the website, “is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat.”

Both Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability are required to have an "active driver" with both hands on the wheel, the company said. Tesla also said in a letter to California's Department of Motor Vehicles that both features do not make their vehicles fully autonomous, according to a report from The Los Angeles Times.

Although the NTSB has called for stricter regulations on self-driving cars, Car and Driver reports that the NHTSA, which can enact standards, has remained relatively hands-off in its approach. The magazine said the NHTSA does not want to "stymie innovation" and that states are free to create their own set of rules regarding self-driving vehicles.