By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Automobile Safety Agency said Wednesday it will send a team to investigate an accident involving a Tesla that was allegedly in autopilot mode when it parked a Michigan car guard hit police.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was sending the Special Crash Investigation (SCI) team in line with its oversight and authority “over the safety of all motor vehicles and equipment, including automotive technologies.”
Tesla did not immediately comment.
Michigan State Police on Twitter said a parked patrol car was hit Wednesday at 1:12 a.m. while investigating a traffic accident between a car and deer near Lansing on Interstate-96.
“While investigating the accident with their emergency lights on, a Tesla on the steering wheel found the patrol car,” the agency said. No one was injured and the 22-year-old Tesla driver was hit by traffic.
Earlier this week, NHTSA earlier launched at least 14 SCI teams following Tesla accidents allegedly linked to Autopilot’s driver assistance system. The agency did not take any action as a result of the investigations.
NHTSA said Monday it was sending another SCI team to investigate a “violent” accident on March 11 in Detroit in which a Tesla got stuck under a tractor trailer and left a passenger in a critical condition.
Detroit police said Tuesday they do not believe Autopilot used the March 11 crash, based on “all indications.”
Autopilot has been operating at least three Tesla vehicles involved in fatal U.S. accidents since 2016.
Concerns have increased about systems that can perform management tasks for long stretches with little or no human intervention, but that cannot replace human managers.
Tesla advises drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel and pay attention when using Autopilot. However, some Tesla drivers say they avoid putting their hands on the steering wheel any longer when using Autopilot.
In February 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sharply criticized Tesla’s lack of system security in a fatal crash in 2018 with the Autopilot in California.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Richard Pullin)