A Tesla Model Y operating on Autopilot crashed into a stationary Michigan State Police car that was parked with emergency lights on while investigating another accident.
On March 17, 2021, at approximately 1:12 a.m., a Tesla Model Y crashed into a Michigan State Police Dodge Charger on I-96 near Waverly Road in Eaton County, Michigan. The police car was parked with emergency lights on while troopers were investigating a car-deer crash, with part of the vehicle in the far right lane. The 22-year-old Tesla driver from Lansing reported that the vehicle was operating in Autopilot mode at the time of the crash. Neither the police officer nor the Tesla driver sustained injuries in the collision. The Tesla driver was cited for failure to move over and driving with a suspended license. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the incident. This crash occurred during a period of increased scrutiny of Tesla's Autopilot system, being the second Tesla crash in Michigan within a week and part of a broader pattern of Tesla vehicles on Autopilot colliding with stationary emergency vehicles. The police car sustained serious damage to the rear driver's corner.
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