A Tesla Model Y using the Smart Summon feature crashed into a $3.5 million Cirrus Vision jet at an aircraft manufacturer event in Spokane, Washington, when the owner summoned the vehicle while inside a hangar without maintaining required line of sight.
At an event hosted by aircraft manufacturer Cirrus at Felts Field in Spokane, Washington, a Tesla Model Y using the Smart Summon feature crashed into a Cirrus Vision jet valued at approximately $3.5 million. The Smart Summon feature, introduced by Tesla in 2019 and still in beta, allows owners to remotely summon their vehicle from up to 200 feet away using a smartphone app. The feature is designed to navigate around obstacles to reach the owner's location. However, Tesla's safety guidelines require owners to maintain a clear line of sight and closely monitor the vehicle at all times. In this incident, the Tesla owner was reportedly inside a nearby hangar when they activated the feature, violating Tesla's safety recommendations. Security camera footage shows the vehicle slowly approaching and colliding with the aircraft, then continuing to push the jet across the tarmac in a half-circle before finally stopping. The Smart Summon feature requires users to continuously hold a button in the app, and the vehicle should stop when the button is released. The incident highlights ongoing issues with Tesla's Smart Summon feature, which has been involved in multiple crashes and near-misses since its 2019 launch, with Consumer Reports previously describing it as 'glitchy' and only working intermittently.
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