US investigates claims Tesla's autopilot caused fatal crash

An accident between a Tesla Model S and a truck in Florida in May is being investigated by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after claims the pure-electric sedan's Autopilot may have been responsible for the fatal collision.

Commenting on the crash, US car-maker Tesla confirmed its semi-autonomous driving aid was unable to recognise "the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky" that had driven across the car's path, leading to a collision that claimed the Model S driver, Joshua Brown.

Shortly after the NHTSA announced it had decided to investigate the crash, Tesla's owner, Elon Musk, described the accident, on Twitter, as a "tragic loss".

Over the weekend the plot thickened when it was reported that Brown, 40, might have been too pre-occupied watching a movie to intervene and prevent the accident that eventually killed him.

According to newswire, The Associated Press, the former Navy soldier was watching a Harry Potter film on a portable DVD player that was still playing moments after the accident, according to a witness at the scene.

Reuters news reported later that Florida Highway Patrol had found a portable DVD player in Brown's Model S.

Brown had already posted an incident on Youtube that appeared to show the Model S' autopilot saving the car from a collision with another truck.

Before the accident Brown had described his Model S as the "best car I have ever owned".

Commenting on the fatal collision Tesla said, to date, the self-driving Autopilot had driven 130 million safe miles.

The statement also read that the "ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S."

Tesla said had the Model S hit the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, "its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents."

The US safety body will now examine whether or not the Autopilot feature had performed a safe and legal manoeuvre, or find if the system was at fault.

In the past NHTSA investigations have triggered large-scale recalls when it discovered defects deemed to be dangerous.

Following the announcement that the NHTSA had begun analysing the accident, Tesla's shares dropped by 3 per cent over fears buyers would lose confidence in the technology and the car-maker's products.

In previous statements Tesla has argued that a driver "cannot abdicate responsibility" and that the Autopilot makes frequent checks the driver's hands are on the steering wheel - slowing if no input is detected.

Tesla also claims that the Autopilot feature is still in its public "Beta" phase of development and that owners have to explicitly acknowledge the tech is in its infancy before using it on the public highway.