NTSB: Autopilot was in use before Tesla hit semitrailer

DETROIT (AP) — A Tesla Model S involved in a fatal crash with a semitrailer in Florida on March 1 was operating on the company's semi-autonomous Autopilot system, federal investigators have determined.

The car drove beneath the trailer, killing the driver, in a crash that is strikingly similar to one that happened on the other side of Florida in 2016 that also involved use of Autopilot.

In both cases, neither the driver nor the Autopilot system stopped for the trailers, and the roofs of the cars were sheared off.

The crash, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, raises questions about the effectiveness of Autopilot, which uses cameras, long-range radar and computers to detect objects in front of the cars to avoid collisions.

The system also can keep a car in its lane, change lanes and navigate freeway interchanges.

Tesla has maintained the system is designed only to assist drivers, who must pay attention at all times and be ready to intervene.

In a preliminary report on the March 1 crash, the NTSB said preliminary data and video from the Tesla show the driver turned on Autopilot about 10 seconds before the crash on a divided highway with turn lanes in the median. From less than eight seconds until the time of the crash, the driver's hands were not detected on the steering wheel, the NTSB report stated.

Neither the data nor the videos indicated the driver or the Autopilot system braked or tried to avoid the trailer, the report stated.

The Model 3 was going 68 mph when it hit the trailer on U.S. Route 441, and the speed limit was 55 mph, the report said. Jeremy Beren Banner, 50, was killed.

Tesla said in a statement today Banner did not use Autopilot at any other time during the drive before the crash. Vehicle logs show he took his hands off the steering wheel immediately after activating Autopilot, the statement said.