Two officers from the California Highway Patrol (California Highway Patrol) are recovering after being seriously injured at the scene of an accident on Interstate 80 in Fairfield City. Local police stated that a Tesla hit their patrol car; the 22-year-old driver told investigators that he fell asleep while using Tesla's “Full Self - Driving” feature.

Barriers, cone barrels, and four closed lanes

The accident occurred on Tuesday, October 13th, near midnight, on the section of road to the east of I-80 and west of Air Base Parkway. At that time, the police were dealing with a previous fatal accident: about an hour earlier, a 19-year-old man from San Pablo lost control of his Honda Civic, and was subsequently hit by a Chevrolet Tahoe, resulting in his unfortunate death.

According to the California Highway Patrol, at the time of the accident, four lanes had been closed behind the scene with flares and cones. This Tesla was traveling at high speed and, after passing through the closed area, collided with a Dodge Charger patrol car, which was occupied by two officers. The collision was captured by the cameras on both the patrol car and another vehicle at the scene.

A Tesla driver from Sacramento suffered only minor injuries when getting out of the car. Both incidents are still under investigation.

In the statement, the California Highway Patrol emphasized that FSD is a driving assistance feature and requires drivers to remain alert and in control of their vehicles at all times: "Technology cannot relieve drivers of their responsibility for safely operating their vehicles."

The California Highway Patrol has not yet announced the model or software version of this Tesla. For now, the driver's statement is the only evidence of FSD being activated at that time. The Tesla vehicle logs will ultimately provide the answer.

In the past five years, Tesla has been involved in emergency accident scenes

This is not the first time. In August 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States launched an investigation after a series of incidents where Tesla vehicles, while in Autopilot mode, collided with parked police cars and fire trucks. Many of these accidents occurred at night, with flares, cones, and flashing police lights present at the scenes. That investigation ultimately led to Tesla recalling over 2 million vehicles in December 2023, and additional driver attention alerts were added through over-the-air updates.

FSD also did not solve this problem. In June 2024, a Tesla with FSD activated collided with a parked Fullerton police car, while the officer was dealing with another fatal accident at that time. The driver admitted to being looking at his phone at that moment.

At night, with lanes closed and flares illuminated, the scene itself becomes the clearest signal that "stop or change lane to avoid collision" that a road can provide. If the FSD in this accident at Fairfield was indeed in operation, then it means that the vehicle charged straight into such a situation at high speed.

Driver monitoring issues

FSD ( Supervised ) uses the cockpit camera to confirm whether the driver is looking at the road. The system should have issued a reminder first, and then disabled the function when the driver was not paying attention. A driver who is actually asleep should not be able to continue driving for too long.

Therefore, either he didn't fall asleep for very long, or the camera failed to detect it. It's still not possible to determine which of the two scenarios is the case at this time. However, Tesla has been relaxing this monitoring system rather than strengthening it. As we have reported before, Tesla drivers can easily bypass the monitoring system; in fact, simply placing a simple dollar bill in front of the camera can cause the system to fail.

In December last year, Elon Musk claimed that FSD drivers can now send text messages and drive "based on the surrounding traffic conditions." In California, it is illegal to send text messages while driving.

Views of Electrek

The driver must be held responsible. If he fell asleep while driving on the highway, he nearly caused the death of two police officers who were just clearing up the aftermath of a fatal accident. He should bear the consequences for his actions. The California Highway Patrol is right in this regard.

But as usual, I must emphasize Tesla's responsibility in this matter. Tesla cannot disclaim any involvement. It sells a product in the United States called “Full Self - Driving”, and this month it also agreed to abandon this name in Europe, as German regulators deemed it misleading; moreover, its CEO even told car owners that they could use it while sending text messages. When you tell people that cars can drive themselves, some of them will actually believe it. A 22-year-old young man driving home at midnight is exactly the kind of person who would believe such a claim.

Top comments for Timthenchntr

If this time it indeed turns out to be FSD, that would be a serious failure, which would cast doubt on Tesla's FSD and Cybercab strategies. However, the details may be important, especially if the driver was pressing the accelerator pedal at that time – which seems to be the root cause of many Autopilot accidents.

The jury has started to see it that way too. In the $243 million Autopilot verdict from Florida, Tesla was held responsible for one-third of the accident, and an earlier FSD incident in Katy, Texas, this year, also highlighted this kind of麻痹ing trap from another perspective. The driver's responsibility and Tesla's responsibility do not exclude each other.

There are also technical failures. The scene of the emergency accident is precisely the one that NHTSA mentioned in 2021. Five years have passed, and Tesla has recalled 2 million cars, yet one car equipped with Tesla's most advanced driving assistance software is said to have still been involved in an accident. Musk has always promised customers that their cars would achieve FSD without the need for supervision. If Tesla wants to remove drivers from the driving loop, should it also bear responsibility for such accidents? Before it achieves this, it shouldn't tell anyone that they can safely avert their gaze.

If you drive an electric vehicle and use rooftop solar energy to charge it, it is the cheapest and cleanest way to keep your vehicle running. Last year, electricity prices rose by nearly 10%, and it is expected to continue to rise. Installing solar panels is one of the best ways to counter these increasing costs. Through leasing and the PPA program, you can even start using solar power with zero down payment and immediately start saving money. If you want to find the best option, you can check out EnergySage. This is a free service, with hundreds of pre-approved installers bidding to help you save 20% to 30% compared to searching on your own. You won't receive any sales calls before you choose an installer. Click here to get a free quote.

FTC: We use automated affiliate links that can generate income. For more information.