- A Ford Mustang Mach-E driver allegedly under the influence is facing homicide charges.
- Police say she was using BlueCruise when she crashed into a stationary vehicle in March.
- This is at least the second time this year a BlueCruise car has hit a stationary vehicle.
There’s no doubt about the value of a car that can drive itself. Today though, we don’t live in a world where such vehicles are ubiquitous. Instead, we have several semi-autonomous driving technologies. According to police, a woman’s over-reliance on Ford’s BlueCruise led to a highway crash in Philadelphia that resulted in two fatalities.
The accident occurred around 3 a.m. this past March on I-95. The 23-year old woman, reportedly a pre-med student from Philadelphia, was behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang Mach-E when she hit a stationary car on the side of the road.
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As reported by the Associated Press, investigators believe the Mustang driver was traveling at around 71 mph (114 kph) while using both BlueCruise and Adaptive Cruise Control during the crash. The collision resulted in the deaths of the driver of the stationary vehicle and another stranded individual, with a total of four cars involved. Additionally, investigators suspect that the woman was under the influence at the time of the crash.
Interestingly, it seems as though by using the system, the woman might sidestep some of the legal ramifications. According to one defense lawyer, Zak Goldstein, the woman could argue that the system failed to act appropriately and contributed to the crash. Speaking to the AP, Goldstein said that while he hasn’t reviewed the criminal complaint or crash report, Pennsylvania law on DUI-related homicides typically requires proving “that the DUI caused the homicide.”
“If in fact it’s a failure in a self-driving or a driving system, that may not be a homicide by DUI even if the driver is intoxicated,” he explained, noting that he has not encountered relevant case law in Pennsylvania.
Generally speaking, semi-automated driving systems like BlueCruise require the driver to be ready to take over at all times. Obviously, when one is drunk or otherwise incapacitated, taking over isn’t exactly possible in the same way it normally would be. Regardless of how alert someone is, the Pennsylvania State Police had a stern warning it issued on Tuesday.
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“No partially automated vehicle technology should ever be left alone to perform the driving tasks that are required to safely navigate the roads of the commonwealth,” it said.
This is at least the second example of this type of crash this year. During the same month as the crash mentioned above, another Mustang Mach-E struck a stationary Honda CR-V in the middle of a highway lane. Sadly, in that case, the Honda driver died as well. The NTSB is investigating the accident. Clearly, some people are sincerely bad at using the semi-autonomous driving technology at their fingertips.
