Published 15:18 IST, June 4th 2020
Video: Tesla crashes into truck in Taiwan, driver blames autopilot mode
The car was reportedly travelling at 110 kilometres per hour before hitting the truck and the driver has said that he tried applying brakes but it was too late.
A surveillance video of a Tesla car colliding into an overturned truck in Taiwan is doing rounds on social media. In the video, one can see a Tesla Model 3 car coming in at full speed before colliding into the truck that was lying overturned on the road. According to reports, the driver of Tesla has alleged that that the car was running on autopilot mode before it slammed into the truck. The car was reportedly travelling at 110 kilometres per hour before hitting the truck and the driver has said that he tried applying brakes but it was too late.
Tesla crashing into truck
In the video that is going viral, one can see smoke coming out from the screeching tires before the vehicle hit the truck. Tesla provides two modes in its electric cars, autopilot and self-driving mode. The autopilot mode was allegedly being used by the driver of the car that collided with the truck. The autopilot mode automatically steers the car, apply brakes, and accelerate. While the self-driving mode provides additional features like self-navigation, detecting traffic lights, auto park, auto lane change among others.
The viral video has garnered more than 2,30,000 views on Twitter since it was shared on June 1. Netizens are in splits over the safety issue concerning the autopilot and self-driving features in Tesla cars. One user wrote, "Still auto-pilot is significantly safer than manual driving, by numbers. How long did it take him to notice the truck when the car is always yelling to pay attention." Another user commented, "That should have been detected by Radar."
Updated 15:18 IST, June 4th 2020