By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States auto security agency said on Wednesday that it would send a team to investigate an accident involving a Tesla suspected of being in autopilot mode when it struck a Michigan State Police patrol car.
The National Road Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was sending the Special Accident Investigation (SCI) team in line with its supervision and authority “on the safety of all motor vehicles and equipment, including automated technologies.”
Tesla did not immediately comment.
Michigan State Police said on Twitter that a parked patrol car was hit at 1:12 am on Wednesday, while investigating a traffic accident between a car and a deer near Lansing on Interstate-96.
“When investigating that accident with the emergency lights on, a Tesla on autopilot hits the patrol car,” the agency said. No one was injured and the 22-year-old Tesla driver received traffic citations.
Prior to this week, NHTSA had previously launched at least 14 SCI teams after Tesla accidents that were suspected of being linked to its Autopilot driver assistance system. The agency took no action as a result of these investigations.
On Monday, NHTSA said it was sending another SCI team to investigate a “violent” March 11 accident in Detroit, in which a Tesla was trapped under a trailer and left a passenger in critical condition.
Detroit police said on Tuesday that they did not believe the Autopilot was in use in the March 11 accident based on “all indications”.
The autopilot has been involved in at least three Tesla vehicles involved in fatal accidents in the U.S. since 2016.
Concerns have grown over systems that can perform driving tasks for long periods with little or no human intervention, but cannot completely replace human drivers.
Tesla advises drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention when using autopilot. However, some Tesla drivers say they can avoid putting their hands on the steering wheel for long periods when using autopilot.
In February 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sharply criticized the lack of Tesla system protections in a fatal autopilot accident in 2018 in California.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Richard Pullin)