Authorities have confirmed that a Teslaon autopilot was partly responsible for a crash in Washington that killed a motorcyclist .
Jeffrey Nissen, 28, was traveling about 15 miles northeast of Seattle when a Model S came from behind and rammed him off his bike before running him over.
Investigators from the Washington State Patrol found the Tesla driver was operating on the company's 'Full Self Driving' (FSD) and had looked at his cell phone while the vehicle was moving.
Nissen was found under the car and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities reported.
Motorcyclist, Jeffrey Nissen, 28, (pictured) was traveling about 15 miles northeast of Seattle when a Model S collided came from behind and collided with him
The 56-year-old driver was arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide.
He described how he had put the car on Autopilot mode and briefly glanced at his phone to text while in traffic.
He also admitted to having consumed one alcoholic drink before getting into the driver's seat, though he passed blood and breath tests at the time.
The cops say his story stands, based on their investigations.
But Capt. Deion Glover, with the Washington State Patrol, said on Tuesday: 'The investigation is still ongoing in this case.'
He said the Snohomish County Prosecutor will determine if any charges are filed in the case.
Tesla's manual warns drivers about solely relying on the FSD feature saying they need to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times, 'be mindful of road conditions and surrounding traffic, pay attention to pedestrians and cyclists, and always be prepared to take immediate action.'
The death is at least the second in the US involving Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' system.
One of the electric car maker’s Colorado employees drove off the road and died in a fiery crash in 2022 while allegedly in auto drive.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had found one fatality and 75 crashes while the system was being used.
The reports do not verify if the system was at fault for the deaths.
Tesla touts its FSD system with the ability to 'drive your Tesla vehicle almost anywhere.
'Your vehicle will be able to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal driver intervention and will continuously improve,' the description continued.
Investigators from the Washington State Patrol found the Tesla driver was operating on the company's 'Full Self Driving' (FSD) and had looked at his cell phone while the vehicle was moving
FSD guides vehicles from a highway's on-ramp to off-ramp and suggests lane changes, navigating interchanges, automatically engaging the turn signal and taking the correct exit.
The technology also assists in moving to an adjacent lane on the highway when Autosteer, helps drivers parallel park and identify stop signs and traffic lights.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said last week that 'Full Self Driving' should be able to run without human supervision by the end of this year.
But until then, drivers have been told to remain attentive when using FSD.
Musk said last week that he did not think approval by government regulators would be a limiting factor in deploying robotaxis.
'If you've got billions of miles that show that in the future, unsupervised FSD is safer than humans, what regulator could really stand in the way of that?' he asked.
Tesla's manual warns drivers about solely relying on the FSD feature saying they need to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times
But Phil Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies autonomous vehicle safety, said he doesn't see Tesla running robotaxis without human drivers on nearly all roads for another decade.
The safety record Musk cites is based on having a human driver supervise the automated system, he said.
'Unless you have data showing that the driver never has to supervise the automation, then there's no basis for claiming they're going to be acceptably safe,' he said.
Musk has said Tesla will unveil a dedicated robotaxi vehicle at an event on Oct. 10. The event was delayed from Aug. 8 to make changes in the vehicle that Musk wanted.
Musk has been telling investors that Tesla is less of a car company and more of a robotics and artificial intelligence company. Many investors have put money into the company based on long-term prospects for robotics technology.
Musk has been touting self-driving vehicles as a growth catalyst for Tesla since 'Full Self Driving' hardware went on sale late in 2015.
