A Tesla Model S operating on Autopilot ran a red light at 74 mph and crashed into a Honda Civic, killing two people in Gardena, California on December 29, 2019.
On December 29, 2019, Kevin George Aziz Riad was driving a Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged when the vehicle ran a red light at an intersection in Gardena, California and struck a Honda Civic at 74 mph. The crash killed two people in the Civic - Gilberto Alcazar Lopez, 40, and Maria Guadalupe Nieves-Lopez, 39, who were on their first date. Riad and a female passenger in the Tesla were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed that Autopilot was active at the time of the crash. Tesla's Autopilot system can control steering, speed and braking but requires drivers to remain attentive. Crash data showed that no brakes were applied for six minutes before the collision, though a Tesla engineer testified that sensors indicated Riad had a hand on the steering wheel. This represents the first felony case in the United States against a driver using Tesla's automated driving system, with Riad facing two counts of vehicular manslaughter. The incident is part of a broader pattern, with NHTSA investigating 26 crashes involving Autopilot since 2016 that resulted in at least 11 deaths.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that fail to perform reliably or effectively under varying conditions, exposing them to errors and failures that can have significant consequences, especially in critical applications or areas that require moral reasoning.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed