Killed Tesla Driver Previously Saved from Crash by Autopilot

Joshua Brown, who sadly lost his life in a road traffic accident while his Tesla Model S was in Autopilot mode, was saved from a collision with a boom lift truck by the car’s self-driving technology a matter of weeks before the fatal incident. Back in April of this year, Brown’s Tesla – which he affectionately dubbed “Tessy” – detected a truck about to sideswipe it and took evasive measures to avoid the collision, as demonstrated in the video below:

Brown detailed the incident, absolving the truck driver of blame and praising both Tessy and Elon Musk for their part in saving him from a crash:

“[The] Tesla Model S autopilot saved the car autonomously from a side collision from a boom lift truck. I was driving down the interstate and you can see the boom lift truck in question on the left side of the screen on a joining interstate road. Once the roads merged, the truck tried to get to the exit ramp on the right and never saw my Tesla. I actually wasn’t watching that direction and Tessy (the name of my car) was on duty with autopilot engaged. I became aware of the danger when Tessy alerted me with the “immediately take over” warning chime and the car swerving to the right to avoid the side collision. “

“You can see where I took over when there’s a little bit of blip in the steering. Tessy had already moved to the right to avoid the collision. I was not able to slow down even more due to the heavy traffic (cars were behind me). Once I got behind him I slowly added more room between us until he exited. I was not tail gating after the incident.”

“It was a mistake on the other driver’s part. He did not even know I was there until I honked my horn. There was a group of women in the black sedan to my left and they went nuts about the guy and what he did (all kinds of gesturing in their car). Once I was beside the truck as it slowed down on the ramp, the guy gestured a “sorry!” I gave him, “it’s okay” wave.”

“Tessy did great. I have done a lot of testing with the sensors in the car and the software capabilities. I have always been impressed with the car, but I had not tested the car’s side collision avoidance. I am VERY impressed. Excellent job Elon!”