Fatal Tesla crash in China involved Autopilot, government TV says

Tesla Motors came under renewed questioning about the safety of its Autopilot technology after news emerged Wednesday of a fatal crash in China that may have occurred while the automated driver-assist system was operating. The crash took place Jan. 20 and killed Gao Yaning, 23, when the Tesla Model S he was driving slammed into a road sweeper on a highway near Handan, a city about 300 miles south of Beijing, according to a report broadcast Wednesday by Chinese government news channel CCTV. The Palo Alto company did not immediately respond to questions about when it learned of the fatality in China, or whether it had reported it to U.S. safety officials who are investigating a fatal accident in Florida in May in which Autopilot was engaged. “Because of the damage caused by the collision, the car was physically incapable of transmitting log data to our servers, and we therefore have no way of knowing whether or not Autopilot was engaged at the time of the crash,” Tesla spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson said in the email. News of the China crash comes just three days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk outlined changes planned for Autopilot that he said would have prevented Brown’s accident and that he contends would make the Model S one of the safest cars on the road. The changes include refinements in Autopilot’s radar that improve its ability to spot and identify obstacles down the road, and additional warnings to force drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road while the system is active. In August, Reuters reported that Tesla removed a Chinese term for “self-driving” from its China website after a driver in Beijing had a nonfatal crash while Autopilot was engaged. In the fatal January crash, police concluded that the driver, Gao, had been responsible for the accident, CCTV reported, but in July, his family sued the dealer who had sold the Tesla.