Crash investigators again scrutinize Tesla Autopilot's role in fatal collision

An inattentive driver relies on his Tesla Autopilot driver-assist system to do the driving. The system does not recognize or respond to a tractor trailer crossing its path along a Florida highway. A fatal crash ensues.

Sound familiar?

Those circumstances were the backdrop for a landmark collision in May 2016. They're the same ones that likely caused a nearly identical crash that killed Jeremy Banner, 50, in a crash on March 1, 2019, in Delray Beach, Fla., according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB issued its findings on the more recent crash Thursday. Among the developments: Images extracted from the vehicle's Autopilot system showed the harrowing seconds leading up to the moment the car impacted and passed underneath the trailer, which straddled U.S. 441.

A Tesla spokesman could not be reached for comment following the release of the report.

Investigators cited a truck driver's failure to yield the right of way as a probable cause of the crash, combined with the Tesla driver's inattention due to an overreliance on an automated feature. The Autopilot feature had been activated 9.9 seconds before the crash occurred.

The findings are the latest from a series of probes conducted by the federal safety agency exploring the advent of new automotive technologies that allow cars to control braking and steering but require an attentive human driver who remains responsible for vehicle operations at all times.

In many respects, the findings read like a carbon copy of the 2016 crash in Williston, Fla., which marked the first time a motorist was killed in a car that operated with an advanced driver-assist feature engaged.

This time, the NTSB cited lessons not learned from the first crash as supporting reasons the second occurred.

For crash investigators, one significant difference between the Williston crash and the one in Delray Beach was the ability to see images extracted from cameras that are part of the Autopilot system.

A series of photos included in the report provides a stark portrait of the crash circumstances — and a precise view of what Banner should have seen had he paid attention to the driving task.

At 6:17 a.m., the first hint of early-morning sunlight had just cracked the Florida darkness. Five seconds before impact, the big rig is visible, waiting to cross the highway from the driveway of Pero Family Farms on the right side of the road. Later, the truck's driver told investigators he thought the vehicle in the right lane "flickered their lights," which he interpreted as a signal that he could proceed.

Four seconds to impact, the truck begins moving. Three seconds beforehand, the truck begins encroaching on Banner's lane. One second before impact, the tractor trailer is blocking all southbound lanes.

The truck driver, who described being able to "read with my right eye" and "see distance in my left eye" told investigators that he felt a "push" against the trailer, then got out to inspect it.

Beyond showcasing Banner's inattention, caused by what the NTSB calls "automation complacency," the images lay bare the operating limitations of the Autopilot system. Namely, that the system is not designed to detect cross traffic, even when an obstacle such as a tractor trailer is obvious to the naked eye.

Further, the driver did not receive a forward-collision warning alert and the automated emergency braking system did not activate. Tesla executives told the agency those systems are not designed to activate for crossing traffic or prevent crashes at high speeds.

"Complex or unusual vehicle shapes" can delay or prevent the automated emergency braking system from detecting objects, the company told NTSB investigators. The AEB system requires agreement between radar and cameras to identify a threat, and at no time was there a match in Banner's Model 3.

The Delray Beach investigation marks the NTSB's fourth into a crash involving Tesla Autopilot, following Williston, a fatal crash in Mountain View, Calif., and a January 2018 crash involving an inattentive Tesla driver who slammed into a parked fire truck with Autopilot engaged. No other Autopilot-related investigations are open at this time.

The NTSB cited Tesla's failure to limit use of the system to the environment for which it was intended as a factor that contributed to the Delray Beach crash.

Following its Williston investigation, the NTSB recommended Tesla and other automakers set safeguards that ensured driver-assist systems could be used only in the conditions for which they were designed, such as highways that do not have crossing traffic.

Some automakers, such as General Motors, ensure motorists adhere to this recommendation by designing their driver-assist systems to operate only in certain geographic areas, such as particular stretches of road.

Tesla's Model 3 owner's manual states the system is "only intended for use on highways and limited-access roads with a fully attentive driver," and not on roads with cross traffic. But in practice, it will work on any road with adequate lane markings. In the course of the investigation, Tesla officials told the agency "the driver determines the acceptable operating environment."

U.S. 441, where the Delray Beach crash occurred, has a combined 34 intersecting roadways and private driveways, and 17 median crossovers in a five-mile span around the crash site, according to the NTSB.

Tesla was not the only entity whose inaction contributed to the crash, according to the NTSB. The agency said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal auto safety regulator, ignored similar recommendations following the Williston crash.

Its failure to develop methods of verifying that manufacturers installed "acceptable system safeguards" was listed as a contributing factor in the Delray Beach collision.

NHTSA's inaction on both driver-assist and autonomous-driving systems has been the subject of ongoing scrutiny across multiple NTSB investigations and the cause of growing friction between the agencies. Late last month, NTSB skewered its federal counterpart in a hearing on the deadly Tesla Autopilot-related crash in Mountain View, Calif.

In that hearing, Robert Molloy, NTSB's director of the Office of Highway Safety, said, "For my staff and myself, there's nothing more disappointing than investigating a crash, coming up with a good solution, and having no response from Tesla, and in NHTSA's case, 'No, we don't need that, and it's not happening.'"

There was no full NTSB meeting regarding the Delray Beach crash. The board released its findings as part of an accident brief.

In its response to NTSB's Delray Beach investigation, NHTSA officials rebuffed those recommendations, saying the agency "has no current plans" to compel automakers to develop a verification method. Instead, it says it would exercise its authority, should the agency identify "a safety-related defect trend."

NHTSA officials did not say how many more fatal Autopilot crashes would constitute such a trend.