Tesla Autopilot Design Cited by NTSB as Factor in 2018 California Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday cited driver errors and Tesla's Autopilot design as the probable cause of a January 2018 crash of a Model S into a parked fire truck on a highway in California.

The safety board, which previously criticised Tesla's driver assistance system Autopilot after a 2016 fatal crash in Florida, said that the system's design "permitted the driver to disengage from the driving task" in the Culver City, California, crash. The NTSB said on Tuesday that Autopilot allowed the driver to keep his hands off the wheel for the vast majority of the nearly 14 minutes of the trip.

The fire truck was unoccupied and the driver was not injured in the incident. The NTSB cited the driver's "inattention and overreliance" on the advanced driver assistance system.