Tesla autopilot appears to veer electric vehicle onto train track it mistook for road
A California Tesla driver found themselves in the middle of an active train track after the EV’s autopilot mode allegedly mistook it for a road, leading to police issuing a “serious” safety alert.
Local police noted the apparent mishap occurred in Woodland, just northwest of Sacramento. Authorities shared a picture of the Tesla positioned in the middle of the tracks on Facebook – which would be directly in the path of an oncoming train.
The photo has received hundreds of likes, comments and shares from concerned Californians.
“This morning, there was an incident where Autopilot mistook train tracks for a road, posing a serious danger,” Woodland Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday.
The identity of the driver remains undisclosed and it’s not clear whether the vehicle was damaged after driving on the railway line. No injuries were reported at the scene.
A traffic investigation is pending, with police yet to verify the accuracy of statements provided from the driver.
Authorities reminded drivers to stay “vigilant while using Tesla’s Autopilot feature,” adding that it “can fail” it said in the statement.
Tesla contests that its autopilot function in its new vehicles “enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel,” as per the company’s website.
Its autopilot functionality includes ‘traffic-aware cruise control’, which matches your cruising speed to that of the surrounding traffic, and ‘autosteer’ that assists in steering within a clearly marked lane, according to the site.
It marks the second incident in two months involving a Tesla’s near miss-with a train while utilising its driver assistance system.
Craig Doty II narrowly avoided crashing his EV into a freight train after placing it in full self-driving mode in Ohio on May 8. A harrowing video shows the Tesla hurtling down a foggy road towards the railway line.
A self-driving Tesla in Camden, Ohio, narrowly avoided colliding with a train, after the vehicle did not register it (Craig Doty/ NBC News)
The vehicle fails to slow down and swerves at the last minute, missing the oncoming train and smashing into a safety barrier.
Doty noted that he may have become complacent with the technology.
“You do get complacent that [the technology] knows what it’s doing. And usually it’s more cautious than I would be as a driver,” he told NBC.
The Independent has contacted both Tesla and Woodland Police Department concerning Wednesday’s incident.
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