What Does It Really Mean To Be On Autopilot

If the driver is supposedly "required" to be attentive at all times, does autopilot even exist? If it "disengages" right before the accident isn't the driver really responsible?

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a crash involving a speeding Tesla that killed two people in a Los Angeles suburb, the agency said on Tuesday.

Spokesman Sean Rushton would not say whether the Tesla Model S was on Autopilot when it crashed on 29 December in Gardena. That system is designed to automatically change lanes and keep a safe distance from other vehicles.

The black Tesla had left a freeway and was moving at a high rate of speed when it ran a red light and slammed into a Honda Civic at an intersection, police said. A man and woman in the Civic died at the scene. A man and woman in the Tesla were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. No arrests were immediately made.