A 56-year-old Snohomish man had set his Tesla Model S on Autopilot and was looking at his cellphone on Friday when he struck and killed a motorcyclist in front of him in Monroe, court records show.
A Washington State Patrol trooper arrested the Tesla driver at the crash site on Highway 522 at Fales Road shortly before 4 p.m. on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The motorcyclist, Jeffrey Nissen, 28, of Stanwood, died at the scene, records show.
The Tesla driver told a state trooper he was driving home from having lunch in Bothell and was looking at his phone when he heard a bang and felt his car lurch forward, accelerate and hit the motorcyclist, according to the affidavit.
The man told the trooper his Tesla got stuck on top of the motorcyclist and couldn’t be moved in time to save him, the affidavit states.
The trooper cited the driver’s “inattention to driving, while on autopilot mode, and the distraction of the cell phone while moving forward,” and trusting “the machine to drive for him” as probable cause for a charge of vehicular manslaughter, according to the affidavit.
The man was booked into the Snohomish County Jail and was released Sunday after posting bond on his $100,000 bail, jail records show.
this guy should get everything coming to him. FSD/autopilot is not good enough to take your hands off the wheel and not pay attention to the fuck’s going on around you.
that said. Tesla absolutely should get a massive wrongful death lawsuit and get fucked by the courts.
Everyone from the driver to whoever certified the car as road worthy to Elon Musk should be held responsible. In reality I would be surprised if anyone except the driver will even see the inside of the court.
yup. every one else has very expensive lawyers.
reality is Teslas are a shit product with false advertising.
I’m honestly not sure which is worse, that Tesla made a system they call Autopilot that isn’t an autopilot or that Tesla owners still think it is.
naw. I think the worst part is when, in tests because that’s the only places they can turn it on in most states, it’ll slow down for an object in the road, and then decide to floor it.
You can turn it on anywhere in the U.S. I’m not sure if it’s geolocked elsewhere. You might be confusing it with GM, Ford, Mercedes, and other systems which only work on certain stretches of certain roads.
What? There’s a video on Tesla’s website right now that says the driver is at the wheel only for legal reasons. There is no other purpose to have a driver.
I’m stumped!
Yeah. how many times did they say ‘Cybertruck is coming out this year’, only for it to not? I suspect they got it into production by mashing parts together because of consumer protection things coming into effect. they’re full of shit. and the “legal reasons” are so as to make the driver responsible and not them.
and you’re not even supposed to have a cellphone in use while driving in WA, that’s an automatic ticket… though the police have you catch you doing it first.