Investigation Did Not Identify Driver Assistance System as the Culprit in Tesla Accident

The view at the accident scene suggests that Tesla's speed was high at the moment of the collision. Photo: Mihkel Maripuu

The Police and Border Guard Board concluded its investigation into the traffic accident that occurred in mid-June on the Tallinn-Tartu highway involving a Tesla vehicle. They determined that the accident was not caused by a failure in the car’s driver assistance system.

After the fatal traffic accident in June in Harju County, where a woman driving a Tesla Model X died, one line of investigation raised the possibility that the accident could have been caused by the vehicle's advanced autopilot.

According to Raul Annuka, head of the North Prefecture's accident investigation group, the police requested information from Tesla to clarify the circumstances of the incident but, unfortunately, did not receive any responses to their inquiries. The police hoped to retrieve driving data from Tesla's servers, which record some driving information for all Teslas.

«Based on other evidence that emerged during the investigation, there is no reason to believe that the accident was caused by a technical failure of the car,» said Annuka. Therefore, the police ended the investigation, which had been initiated to clarify the circumstances of the traffic accident, in September.

Teslas can drive on autopilot, which reads traffic signs, regulates speed, and maintains lane position and distance from other vehicles. When driving in autopilot mode, the Tesla checks every 30 seconds to see if the driver is awake, and if the driver doesn’t place their hands on the steering wheel as instructed by the vehicle, it alerts the driver with a loud signal. If the driver still doesn’t take control of the steering wheel, the car will slow down and stop by itself. The car is also equipped with cameras that continuously monitor the area 360 degrees around the vehicle.

Tesla’s driver assistance systems are designed to minimize the likelihood of traffic accidents. If Tesla detects a dangerous situation, the emergency brake is activated. However, the driver can override the emergency brake by pressing firmly on the accelerator pedal at the same time.

On the evening of June 17, at the 16th kilometer of the Tallinn-Tartu highway in Harju County, a Tesla Model X crashed at high speed into the back of a truck trailer. The collision was so severe that the 37-year-old woman driving the car died at the scene. There were no passengers in the car. An expert investigation determined that the woman who died in the Tesla accident was sober at the time of the crash.

The truck was driven by a 25-year-old man who was also sober and held the appropriate driving license. Both the truck and the Tesla were heading towards Tartu. At the time of the accident, driving conditions were normal, with the road surface wet from rain, but there were no large puddles on the highway. According to the truck driver, he did not realize that a car had crashed into the trailer at the moment of the impact, and initially thought that the noise was caused by a tire blowout. The truck traveled another 200-300 meters before coming to a complete stop.

Tesla introduced autopilot in its cars in October 2015, and since then, the driver assistance system has been regularly updated. However, as of June this year, there have been 44 recorded fatal traffic accidents involving Tesla vehicles, where autopilot is suspected to have been a contributing factor.

The first known fatal accident involving a Tesla vehicle using autopilot occurred on May 7, 2016, in Florida, USA, when a Tesla Model S collided with a truck trailer on a highway. Tesla has repeatedly emphasized since the incident that autopilot is not a fully autonomous driving system, and the driver must remain attentive while operating the vehicle.

The scene of the accident suggests that the Tesla was traveling at a high speed at the moment of impact.