A Tesla Model S using 'Full Self-Driving' software unexpectedly braked and slowed from 55 mph to 20 mph on the San Francisco Bay Bridge on Thanksgiving Day 2022, triggering an eight-vehicle pileup that injured nine people including a 2-year-old child.
On November 24, 2022, a Tesla Model S operating with Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' (FSD) beta software caused an eight-vehicle crash on Interstate 80 eastbound on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The incident occurred around noon on Thanksgiving Day, just hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that FSD would be available to anyone in North America who requested it. According to the California Highway Patrol report, the Tesla was traveling at approximately 55 mph when it changed lanes into the far left lane and then braked abruptly, slowing to about 20 mph without any apparent obstruction ahead. This sudden deceleration caused a chain reaction involving eight vehicles total. Nine people were treated for minor injuries, including a 2-year-old child who was hospitalized with an abrasion to the rear left side of his head and a bruise. The crash closed two lanes of traffic for about 90 minutes during heavy holiday travel. The driver told authorities that the vehicle was in FSD mode when it malfunctioned, though police could not independently confirm whether the software was actually active. Tesla's FSD system requires constant driver supervision and the company warns users it 'may do the wrong thing at the worst time.' This incident is part of ongoing federal investigations into Tesla's driver assistance systems following reports of unexpected 'phantom braking' events.
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