Man Dies After Being Mowed Down by Self-Driving Tesla, Police Say

A 71-year-old man lost his life after being struck by a Tesla allegedly in Full Self-Driving mode, according to police reports, marking yet another tragic incident involving Elon Musk's self-driving technology. The fatal accident occurred early Thursday morning when the elderly pedestrian attempted to cross Interstate 80 in Vallejo.

Upon arrival at the scene, officers found the man severely injured and pronounced him dead. The Tesla driver, a 26-year-old man from San Francisco, remained at the scene and informed officers that his vehicle was operating in FSD, which mandates continuous driver supervision and is not considered fully autonomous. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) reviewed dashcam footage of the collision, which revealed the Tesla traveling at approximately 70 miles per hour when the pedestrian stepped onto the freeway from the right shoulder.

The footage also showed the vehicle applying its brakes and swerving left in an attempt to avoid the pedestrian, but the right front portion of the Tesla still struck the individual. The pedestrian was hit by an additional vehicle while lying on the highway, though no other vehicles stopped to assist authorities. The Solano Area CHP expressed its deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased during this trying time.

This incident is not an isolated case; last week, another Tesla equipped with FSD collided with a police cruiser stopped at the scene of a separate accident, resulting in two officers being hospitalized. The CHP reiterated that despite the name, full self-driving is not fully autonomous and does not absolve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles.

In 2023, a Tesla running FSD caused the death of an elderly woman in Arizona who was assisting with traffic direction after an accident, with footage suggesting that the car's front cameras were blinded by the sun's glare, potentially confusing the software reliant solely on vision for its surroundings. No official word on this latest fatal accident has been released, but the circumstances surrounding the pedestrian's appearance on the highway at night pose a significant challenge for both human and self-driving vehicle operators.