A driver said their Tesla car’s “full-self-driving” software braked unexpectedly on a highway, resulting in an eight-car accident on Thanksgiving morning, CNN reported.
The crash adds to the troubles of the company’s transphobic, right-leaning billionaire CEO Elon Musk. Musk has sold nearly $23 billion in his own Tesla shares since April when he began his chaotic takeover of the microblogging media platform Twitter.
Videos from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) showed the vehicle “changing lanes and slowing to a stop,” the news outlet said. The CHP couldn’t confirm whether the car’s “full self-driving” mode was active when the stop occurred.
“The crash occurred about lunchtime on Thanksgiving, snarling traffic on Interstate 80 east of the Bay Bridge as two lanes of traffic were closed for about 90 minutes as many people traveled to holiday events,” CNN wrote. “Nine people [were] treated for minor injuries including one juvenile who was hospitalized… Four ambulances were called to the scene.”
Before Thanksgiving, Musk announced that the beta version of “self-driving mode” would be available to all Tesla vehicle owners who had purchased the feature. The software, which has been added to over 100,000 cars in the United States, automatically accelerates, brakes, and steers on highways, Insider reported.
Tesla’s website says vehicles’ “Full Self-Driving Capability” is “intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment.”
However, the U.S. government has been investigating the software after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it received 758 reports from Tesla owners who said their software occasionally performs “phantom braking,” stopping unexpectedly, suddenly, and violently while in self-driving mode.
A Tesla vehicle owner named Marques Brownlee recently posted a 23-minute video demonstration of his car’s full self-driving mode. In the video, he called the software stressful. He turned off the software three times and said that he keeps his foot hovering above the brake to manually take over if the software acts oddly.
While Brownlee said he’s comfortable using the software on highways, other YouTubers have shared videos showing the software “failing to recognize pedestrians to attempting to turn into oncoming traffic,” the aforementioned publication noted.