Feds Look at Self-Driving Tesla Crashes with Emergency Vehicles

Federal regulators are looking into nearly a dozen accidents between Tesla cars using the self-driving function and emergency vehicles.

According to CNN, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is investigating at least 11 incidents in which the cars collided with emergency vehicles that were already at the scene of an earlier accident. Of those crashes, seven of them resulted in a fatality and 17 injuries.

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The NHTSA says that in each of the incidents, the Autopilot or traffic-aware cruise control features were being used as they came upon the accidents. The agency is investigating incidents between late January 2018 and early July of this year that happened primarily at night.

In April, a Tesla Model S burst into flames after crashing into a tree in The Woodlands, killing two occupants. Because the burning wreckage was deemed a crime scene at the time of the crash, firefighters needed to keep continually dousing the car's battery with water for hours in order to stop it from reigniting.

Initially, Tesla denied that the car's self-driving features were engaged whten the accident happened. But while speaking to investors in April, the comapny's vice president of vehicle engineering said the adaptive cruise control was in use, and it sped up the car to 30 mph before the accident, CNN reports.

The probe will focus on the technology involved "to monitor, assist, and enforce the driver's engagement with driving while Autopilot is in use."

"NHTSA reminds the public that no commercially available motor vehicles today are capable of driving themselves," the agency stated. "Every available vehicle requires a human driver to be in control at all times, and all state laws hold human drivers responsible for operation of their vehicles. Certain advanced driving assistance features can promote safety by helping drivers avoid crashes and mitigate the severity of crashes that occur, but as with all technologies and equipment on motor vehicles, drivers must use them correctly and responsibly."

CNN reached out to Tesla, but the company did not provide immediate comment.