American safety regulators have opened another special crash investigation into a fatal accident involving a Tesla vehicle. This time, the vehicle in question was a Model Y that is suspected of having relied on the automaker’s advanced driver assistance systems in the moments leading up to a deadly collision with a tractor trailer.
The incident occurred on July 19 in Warrenton, Virginia, and led to the death of the Model Y’s driver. The local sheriff’s office said that the collision occurred as the semi was trying to turn onto a highway from a truck stop.
The Tesla struck the side of the tractor trailer, and went under it. The Model Y’s driver was pronounced dead at the scene, reports Reuters. Notably, the driver of the 18-wheeler was issued a summons for reckless driving.
Read: U.S. Opens Special Investigation Over Autopilot Use In Fatal Tesla Crash
While the summons suggests that authorities believe the truck’s driver was primarily to blame for the accident, if the Tesla’s ADAS system failed to react appropriately to the situation, that may still be of interest to regulators who are actively investigating the technology.
Since 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened more than 36 special crash investigations into collisions where Autopilot or FSD are suspected of having been in use. Of those, nearly two dozen involve the death of one or more people.
The organization typically opens more than 100 special crash investigations into emerging technologies every year. Fears relating to the effectiveness of Tesla’s driver monitoring systems and its advertising of the system, which may lead to over-reliance, have made the EV manufacturer the focus of much scrutiny.
In addition to the special crash investigations, Autopilot is the subject of a NHTSA engineering analysis. That is the final step in the process of evaluation before the safety regulator decides to either issue a recall for the system, or that there is no defect worthy of one.
