Tesla Collides with Police Car During Autonomous Driving... Stock Price Drops Amid Series of Accidents

Accidents Continue Involving Vehicles Ramming into Cars with Hazard Lights On
Tesla Stock Closes Down 2.44%

A Tesla electric vehicle in the United States collided with a police car that had its hazard lights on while the Tesla's driving assistance feature was activated. Similar accidents have repeatedly occurred, and collisions have continued despite a large-scale recall.

According to the Fullerton Police Department in California, USA, at 12:04 a.m. local time on the 14th, a blue Tesla vehicle collided with a police car that was stopped blocking part of the road at an intersection near Los Angeles (LA) to handle a traffic accident.

Tesla logo. [Photo by Yonhap News]

At the time, the police car had its hazard lights on and several emergency signal lights emitting light were placed around it.

The police stated that an officer standing on the road spotted the approaching Tesla and moved to the side of the road, avoiding a potential disaster. The officer inside the police car also avoided injury by moving away from the direction of the collision.

The police said, "The Tesla driver admitted to using a mobile phone while the autonomous driving mode was activated at the time of the accident," adding, "This was irresponsible driver behavior and a clear violation of California law." They emphasized, "Autonomous driving modes can be convenient, but drivers must always remain alert and be ready to take control of the vehicle at any time."

It has not been confirmed whether the feature activated by the Tesla driver was the standard 'Autopilot' or the higher-level software 'FSD' (Full Self-Driving), which requires purchase. The Associated Press reported that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has acknowledged the accident and contacted Tesla to obtain detailed information.

Since the Autopilot software was introduced in 2015, hundreds of related accidents have occurred, and after the beta version of FSD was released in 2021, dozens of FSD-related accidents have also been reported.

NHTSA began investigating Autopilot accidents in 2021. According to NHTSA data, there have been a total of 467 Autopilot-related collisions, resulting in 14 deaths and 54 injuries. Regarding FSD, there have been 75 collisions and one fatality.

Most of the fatal Autopilot accidents involved Tesla vehicles colliding with motorcycles or emergency vehicles with flashing lights.

In December last year, Tesla conducted a recall to update the Autopilot software on nearly all Tesla vehicles sold in the U.S. as part of an agreement with NHTSA. The update included adding warning features to ensure drivers remain attentive while Autopilot is active and disabling the system if the driver does not respond to attention prompts.

However, even after the recall, 20 Autopilot-related collisions occurred, and at the end of April, NHTSA launched a reinvestigation into the adequacy of Tesla's recall measures.

Meanwhile, Tesla's stock price fell 2.44% to close at $178.01 following news of the accident. Earlier, the stock had risen after the approval of a large performance compensation plan for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which eased concerns about his position, but worries about accident risks caused the stock to decline again.