Brutal Dashcam Footage In Fatal Chinese Tesla Crash Shows Autopilot Failed Miserably

New reports are coming out of China today claiming that the first fatality in a Tesla Model S on Autopilot was not the widely-covered crash in Florida in May 2016 that resulted in the death of Joshua Brown, but actually an accident in China in January 2016.

The accident was under investigation for the first half of the year, but the family of the victim reportedly sued ‘Tesla China’ back in July and now details of the crash are coming to light in the Chinese media.

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mre30 - 9/15/2016 11:23:34 AM

+2 Boost

Wow. That poor kid never knew what he was going to hit - a tragedy of epic proportions. He was using his dad's car and probably didn't know any better.

GermanNut - 9/15/2016 12:07:23 PM

+1 Boost

This video appears to be authentic and presents a major setback for Tesla. What will Chinese drivers think of Tesla now? Will China's auto regulators ban Tesla from selling its cars in China?

This presents a potentially huge problem for Tesla because China is the world's largest auto market with rapidly growing wealth creation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tychodefeijter/2016/05/16/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-chinese-car-market/2/#28696a1f1a24

Car4life1 - 9/15/2016 2:44:14 PM

+4 Boost

Unfortunately, not only is this a setback for Tesla, its a setback for the entire industry. Instead of Tesla waiting to develop the autopilot feature further and taking time to work out the bugs/miscalculations, they launched this product knowing full well, it was not ready to be used as advertised.

Now even if someone like Mercedes-Benz whom has been testing the technology for decades, decides to release a fully autonomous vehicle, they most likely will not and further delay its launch as Tesla is now putting a dark cloud and stigma over the technology due to their negligence

mpls - 9/15/2016 3:09:01 PM

+3 Boost

Apparently Tesla radar detection and auto braking systems is far far inferior to the least advance tradition car manufacturing system.
This is shocking, Tesla are trying to run when it can't even walk properly !!

Vette71 - 9/15/2016 5:16:07 PM

0 Boost

My reaction exactly. Having used automatic cruise with dynamic braking for tens of thousands of miles in my Jeep GC I know it would have first slowed and then slammed on the brakes with an object like that. Indeed its sometimes oversensitive and needs a human override to keep it going in some situations. I agree Tesla has hurt the whole industry.

mpls - 9/15/2016 3:10:48 PM

+3 Boost

This from a company that has the cheek to make fun of tradtional manufacturers

mpls - 9/15/2016 3:15:29 PM

+3 Boost

A tool of a company that promotes speed and acceleratio of its cars... utter fail!

7msynthetic - 9/15/2016 4:06:13 PM

0 Boost

Have you heard that Elon Musk has introduced a new Tela! >>> Model ADF! He is taking pre-orders of $5,000 for delivery of vehicles in 2020. Most of the funds will go to paying off victims being killed by his autonomous systems over the next 10 years. Model AD aptly stands for Autonomous Death Fund. Thanks to you SUCKERS!

MDarringer - 9/15/2016 8:05:26 PM

+1 Boost

Where is the Tesla employee from San Jose's strident defense of Tesla?

F1_Driver - 9/15/2016 10:41:18 PM

0 Boost

Tesla = unreliable POS.

Eyecarehawaii - 9/23/2016 9:20:44 PM

+1 Boost

This is so stupid. Since when does having an "autopilot" obviate the need for a driver to be a driver? Even pilots are responsible for what happens in commercial aircraft when they engage their autopilot. If you want to be driven hire a chauffeur.