Tesla’s Autopilot feature blamed for some accidents

On behalf of Aiken and Aiken P.C. Personal Injury Attorneys posted in Car Accidents, on Friday, December 15, 2017

Massachusetts residents may have heard about Tesla’s Autopilot software, the autonomous technology that is supposed to help prevent accidents. Though the Autopilot feature on Tesla vehicles is designed to thwart collisions with other vehicles, there have been multiple news stories about incidents when the technology failed. Recently, a man in China who had set his Tesla Model S on Autopilot scraped against a car that was parked on the shoulder of the road. Footage of the minor collision was uploaded to the Internet, and Tesla responded by blaming the driver for the collision. According to Tesla, drivers using Autopilot are supposed to keep their hands on the wheel and be ready to take over steering at any time. Though there have been many reports about accidents involving Tesla’s Autopilot, some success stories have been reported as well. The owner of a Tesla Model X wrote about a near-collision that was prevented by the car’s Autopilot feature. The driver said that the Tesla automatically braked and narrowly missed hitting a car that had crossed in front without warning. If the Tesla had not braked, the driver believes that there would have been an accident. When an accident involves a vehicle with autonomous technology, a glitch in the vehicle’s software could be partially to blame for the accident. An attorney may be able to help a car accident victim file a personal injury claim against the vehicle manufacturer as well as any other liable parties. A victim may claim reimbursement for all of the monetary damages that they have incurred as a result of such an accident.