Tesla's Autopilot system was involved in 11 crashes with first responder vehicles between 2018-2021, including a fatal Indiana crash that killed passenger Jenna Monet when their Tesla Model 3 rear-ended a parked firetruck.
Between January 2018 and July 2021, the Office of Defects Investigation identified eleven crashes involving Tesla vehicles equipped with Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control that struck first responder vehicles at emergency scenes. Most incidents occurred after dark at scenes with emergency lights, flares, arrow boards, and road cones. The crashes injured 17 people total, with one fatality. The fatal incident occurred on December 29, 2019, on Interstate 70 in Putnam County, Indiana, when a 2019 Tesla Model 3 driven by Derrick Monet, 25, rear-ended a parked Cloverdale Fire Department truck with emergency lights activated. The crash killed passenger Jenna Monet, 23, and seriously injured the driver, who suffered multiple fractures to his neck, ribs, and femur. The NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation of Tesla's SAE Level 2 ADAS system covering Model Years 2014-2021 for Models Y, X, S, and 3. Tesla's Autopilot system, introduced in 2015, uses radar and cameras to automatically brake, accelerate, pass vehicles, and maintain lane centering, though drivers retain primary responsibility for object detection and response.
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