Tesla Motors released a statement on June 30 after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into a fatal crash involving a Model S being driven by the car’s autopilot. Former Navy SEAL Joshua Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio, was killed on May 7 in Florida when the autopilot failed to distinguish between a white tractor-trailer crossing the highway and the bright sky.
Brown had published a video around one month before the fatal crash where he credited his “Tessy’s” autopilot for averting a collision. The video went viral on YouTube attracting over 1.7 million views and was tweeted by Tesla founder Elon Musk.
“Hands down the best car I have ever owned and use it to its full extent. It has done many, many amazing things, but this was one of the more interesting things caught on the dashcam,” Brown wrote in a comment on the YouTube video published on April 5.
The Associated Press interviewed the driver of the tractor-trailer involved in the May 7 crash, who said a movie was playing in the car following the crash. Bronson, Florida-based newspaper The Levy Journal reported the top of the Telsa was torn off in the crash on US 27A.
This video shows the April 5 near miss captured on Brown’s dashboard camera. Credit: YouTube/Joshua Brown
