A Tesla driver who met a fatal crash in California on May 5 had previously posted videos on TikTok showcasing the autopilot system and driving with his hands off the steering wheel of the car.
Certain incidents and accidents over the past month have brought Tesla’s autopilot system under scrutiny and have raised concerns if the system is as effective as the company claims it to be.
The vehicle came in contact with an overturned truck on a highway and resulted in the fatal crash, killing Steven Hendrickson who was already known for making Tiktok videos suggesting that how great the “Tesla’s Fully Autonomous Driving Mode” is, little did he know that it could be the autopilot mode that would cause his death.
The victim of the Tesla crash posted two videos earlier in which he can be seen driving his Tesla with his hands off the wheel with captions that he has been using the autonomous mode while filming the videos. “What would I do without my full self-driving Tesla after a long day at work,” states a caption on one of his videos. “Coming home from LA after work, thank god, self-drive,” reads another caption. “Best car ever!”
The Tesla crash took place in Fontana on May 5, the aftermath of which was killing 35-years-old Hendrickson, and leaving injured the truck driver and a Samaritan who stopped to help.
An earlier statement from the police testifies that the car was in the autonomous mode, however, that statement was changed later that there is still an investigation going on if the vehicle was on the Autopilot mode, and investigators aren’t sure of that as of yet. The change of the statement made the already controversial autonomous driving mode even more doubtful and has the same impact on the incident.
The stats in such incidences are prone to be influenced by the ones with more money, and Tesla sure has no shortage in its pockets for that. However, if investigators of the crash do determine that the autopilot was turned on before the crash, they’ll just be adding in a list of accidents, tragedies, and terrible press related to Tesla’s autopilot feature, some of which were so unfortunate to bring along death.
