A Tesla driver using Autopilot fatally struck a motorcyclist from behind on Interstate 15 in Utah, killing the rider instantly.
On July 24, 2022, at approximately 1:09 AM, a Tesla Model 3 sedan equipped with Autopilot collided with a Harley-Davidson motorcycle on southbound Interstate 15 near Draper, Utah. The motorcyclist, identified as Landon Embry, 34, of Orem, Utah, was traveling in the HOV lane when the Tesla approached from behind. The Tesla driver told authorities that Autopilot was engaged at the time and that he did not see the motorcyclist before the collision. The impact threw the rider from the bike, and he died instantly at the scene. This incident is part of a broader pattern of Tesla Autopilot crashes, with NHTSA investigating 39 crashes involving Tesla vehicles out of 48 total crashes on their Special Crash Investigations list. From July 2021 to May 2022, there were 273 crashes involving Tesla vehicles using Autopilot out of 392 total crashes reported during that period. The incident occurred in darkness, consistent with other Autopilot crashes involving emergency vehicles and motorcycles. NHTSA has sent investigation teams to examine this crash along with another fatal motorcycle collision involving a Tesla in California.
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