Eric Carter tells News 12 New Jersey that his X-Model Tesla electric car misread the lines on the road, causing him to crash near Adams Lane.
Carter says that as he was driving north on Route 1 with his hands on the steering wheel, the car turned to the right, sending him into the median. He says that he was able to slightly correct the turn and avoid hitting a road sign head-on.
But Tesla’s website states that autopilot “is intended for use only with a fully attentive driver who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any time…it does not turn a Tesla into an autonomous vehicle, and it does not allow the driver to abdicate responsibility….The driver can override any of Autopilot’s features at any time.”
A spokesperson for Tesla says in a statement, "Safety is the top priority at Tesla, and we engineer and build our cars with this in mind. We also ask our customers to exercise safe behavior when using our vehicles.”
Assuming this driver is telling the truth he was paying attention. You can't possibly be attentive enough to correct for a car which is essentially driving itself at highway speeds if it decides to send you into a median.