California highway: Tesla crashed into a truck, suspected of activating automatic assisted driving

A fatal crash involving an electric Tesla in the early hours of the 5th of this month in the United States involved a Model 3 whose driver was suspected of having activated Autopilot.

The accident occurred in Fontana, 80 kilometers east of Los Angeles, when the Model 3 crashed into an overturned truck on the freeway, killing 35-year-old Tesla driver Steven Michael Hendrickson and seriously injuring a man who saved the truck driver from getting out of the vehicle.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating whether Autopilot was activated before the Tesla crash.

Henderson, a member of the Southern California chapter of a Tesla fan club, posted a social media clip of him driving with his hands off the wheel and feet off the pedals, activating his Tesla’s Autopilot system on the highway.

This is the 29th accident involving Tesla investigated by NHTSA, and three people have been killed in crashes involving Autopilot in the United States.