Tesla driver says he was asleep with FSD on when car hit police cruiser
The 22-year-old driver of a Tesla that slammed into a police vehicle at a crash scene on California's I-80 told investigators he had fallen asleep with the Full Self-Driving system engaged. Two highway patrol officers were seriously injured.
A Tesla plowed through closed-off lanes and struck a police vehicle with two officers inside at highway speed in California. The two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers were seriously injured, while the 22-year-old Tesla driver told investigators he had fallen asleep with Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) driver-assistance system engaged.
The crash happened shortly before midnight on Tuesday, Oct. 13, on eastbound I-80 near Fairfield. Officers were at the scene because of a fatal crash roughly an hour earlier, in which a 19-year-old Honda Civic driver lost control and was struck by a Chevrolet Tahoe. The young driver was killed.
Despite flares and cones
According to the CHP, four lanes had been closed to traffic with flares and cones. The Tesla drove through the closure and hit the Dodge Charger patrol car in which the two officers were sitting. The moment of impact was captured by cameras in the patrol car and in another vehicle at the scene, and the CHP released the footage to the public. The driver, from Sacramento, escaped with minor injuries. Investigations into both crashes are ongoing.
In its statement, the CHP stressed that FSD is a driver-assistance feature and that drivers must remain attentive and in control of the vehicle at all times. Police underlined that the technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to operate their vehicles safely. The vehicle's model and software version have not yet been disclosed. For now, the only basis for the claim that FSD was active is the driver's statement; Tesla's vehicle logs are expected to clarify the matter.
A five-year-old problem
Teslas crashing into emergency response scenes is nothing new. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation in August 2021 into Teslas striking stationary police and fire vehicles while on Autopilot. That process ended in December 2023 with a recall covering more than 2 million vehicles, which added extra driver-attention alerts via an over-the-air update. In June 2024, a Tesla with FSD engaged struck a parked police car in Fullerton, where officers were again handling a fatal crash.
FSD (Supervised) uses a cabin camera to check that the driver is watching the road and is supposed to issue warnings and then disengage when the driver is inattentive. However, Electrek has previously reported that the system can be defeated by simple tricks, such as placing a banknote in front of the camera. It is also worth recalling that Tesla agreed not to use the "Full Self-Driving" name in Europe after German regulators found it misleading.
This article was compiled with the help of AI from information published by Electrek.
