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Two motorcycle fatalities this month, including one this past weekend in Utah when a Tesla rear-ended a rider, are among the cases of crashes by cars using advanced driver assistance that are under investigation by federal officials.
In the most recent fatality, a Tesla driver rear-ended and fatally injured a 34-year-old motorcyclist shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, according to a report from the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS). The motorcyclist was thrown from his vehicle and died at the scene. The Tesla driver told police that the 2020 Model 3’s Autopilot feature was engaged at the time of impact.
The collision happened in the southbound high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane of I-15 near the city of Draper. The motorcyclist’s Harley-Davidson was in front of the Tesla and apparently the vehicle’s sensors did not detect the motorcycle ahead. The police report said the driver “did not see” the motorcycle and hit it from behind. The driver of the Tesla was not injured. No charges have been filed yet and the incident is still under investigation.
By federal law, solo motorcycle riders are allowed to use HOV lanes unless states seek an exception due to safety reasons.
Common Tread contacted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about the incident, and a media representative provided a list of all open Special Crash Investigations involving advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Of the 48 current cases from 2016 to present, 39 involve Tesla vehicles, and 14 of the Tesla crashes resulted in at least one fatality.
Due to the Tesla Autopilot’s alleged failure, the Utah case falls under the purview of the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). This is the second such case opened this month involving a motorcyclist fatality. On July 7, the driver of a 2021 Tesla Model Y struck and killed a 48-year-old motorcyclist on the Riverside Freeway in California. That case is also currently under investigation.
Tesla’s position as the self-proclaimed leader in ADAS technology, as well as the fact that ADAS is available for all Tesla models, only partly explains the brand’s overrepresentation in ADAS crashes and fatalities. Tesla’s current ADAS uses a camera array called Tesla Vision to detect other road users. Contrary to the Autopilot name, Tesla’s system is not fully autonomous, nor should the driver rely on Autopilot alone to safely operate the vehicle, per Tesla’s own instructions.
“Autopilot is an advanced driver assistance system that enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel,” says Tesla’s Autopilot support page. “Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability are intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment. While these features are designed to become more capable over time, the currently enabled features do not make the vehicle autonomous.”
Tesla disbanded its press office in 2020, so we were not able to obtain a comment from the company, and Tesla has not released statements on the two motorcyclists killed this month.
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