The fatal crash last week involving a Tesla did take place while the vehicle was on autopilot, the company confirmed late Friday. 
 
 The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the accident, which took place March 23 and killed the driver. 
 
 "In the moments before the collision, which occurred at 9:27 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd, Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum," Tesla said in a statement. "The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision." 
 
 AP 
 
 Walter Huang, 38, died in the accident when his Tesla Model X slammed into a barrier on the 101 Highway near Mountain View, California. Huang worked as an engineer at Apple. 
 
 In its statement, Tesla blamed the seriousness of the accident on the barrier, which was not repaired after a previous accident. 
 
 "The reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced," Tesla said in its statement. "We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash." 
 
 Huang's brother, Will, told San Francisco ABC station KGO that Walter had complained "seven to 10 times the car would swivel toward that same exact barrier during auto-pilot." 
 
 "Walter took it into the dealership addressing the issue, but they couldn't duplicate it there," Will said. 
 
 Rich Fury/Getty Images for Citi 
 
 The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans), which is responsible for maintaining the barriers, released a statement to KGO saying "replacement work was scheduled." 
 
 "Once our Maintenance team has been notified, the Department's goal is to repair or replace damaged guardrail or crash attenuators within seven days or five business days, depending on weather," CalTrans told KGO. "These are guidelines that our Maintenance staff follow. However, as in this case, storms can delay the fix." 
 
 KGO reported the previous accident that damaged the barrier took place 11 days before Huang's fatal crash. 
 
 Autopilot and autonomous vehicles have come under increased scrutiny recently after a women was killed by one of Uber's autonomous vehicles in Tempe, Arizona. Arizona's governor suspended Uber's license to test autonomous vehicles on public roads last week. 
 
 Telsa said on Friday its autopilot "unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists." ||||| Since posting our first update, we have been working as quickly as possible to establish the facts of last week’s accident. Our hearts are with the family and friends who have been affected by this tragedy. 
 
 The safety of our customers is our top priority, which is why we are working closely with investigators to understand what happened, and what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future. After the logs from the computer inside the vehicle were recovered, we have more information about what may have happened. 
 
 In the moments before the collision, which occurred at 9:27 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd, Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum. The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision. The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken. 
 
 The reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced. We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash. 
 
 Over a year ago, our first iteration of Autopilot was found by the U.S. government to reduce crash rates by as much as 40%. Internal data confirms that recent updates to Autopilot have improved system reliability. 
 
 In the US, there is one automotive fatality every 86 million miles across all vehicles from all manufacturers. For Tesla, there is one fatality, including known pedestrian fatalities, every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware. If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware, you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident. 
 
 Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents – such a standard would be impossible – but it makes them much less likely to occur. It unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists. 
 
 No one knows about the accidents that didn’t happen, only the ones that did. The consequences of the public not using Autopilot, because of an inaccurate belief that it is less safe, would be extremely severe. There are about 1.25 million automotive deaths worldwide. If the current safety level of a Tesla vehicle were to be applied, it would mean about 900,000 lives saved per year. We expect the safety level of autonomous cars to be 10 times safer than non-autonomous cars. 
 
 In the past, when we have brought up statistical safety points, we have been criticized for doing so, implying that we lack empathy for the tragedy that just occurred. Nothing could be further from the truth. We care deeply for and feel indebted to those who chose to put their trust in us. However, we must also care about people now and in the future whose lives may be saved if they know that Autopilot improves safety. None of this changes how devastating an event like this is or how much we feel for our customer's family and friends. We are incredibly sorry for their loss. ||||| EMBED More News Videos A 38-year-old man was killed when his Tesla crashed and caught on fire in Mountain View. 
 
 The investigation into the fatal #Tesla crash continued today with the #CHP & #NTSB digging through the scorched EV 🎥 https://t.co/rfdgY88bn7 pic.twitter.com/vd2YzFmAZ0 — Dean C. Smith (@DeanCSmith) March 29, 2018 
 
 Family of Apple engineer who died Friday in Tesla crash tells me he had complained to dealer that auto-pilot veered toward that same barrier on multiple occasions. #ABC7now See more in my investigation here: https://t.co/ZU6yOP8ZuE pic.twitter.com/cMUa0v4c3o — Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) March 29, 2018 
 
 "Walter was just a straight up, caring guy," Shawn Price told the ABC7 News I-Team. Friends and family are mourning the death of Apple engineer Walter Huang after he crashed in his Tesla in Mountain View Friday.The ABC7 I-Team has word of a major development in the investigation. His family says Huang complained about the Tesla's Autopilot "before" the accident. Dan Noyes has an exclusive report.Walter Huang's family tells Dan Noyes he took his Tesla to the dealer, complaining that -- on multiple occasions -- the Autopilot veered toward that same barrier -- the one his Model X hit on Friday when he died.ABC7 News Photographer Dean Smith captured exclusive video today of investigators from the CHP's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team and National Transportation Safety Board at a San Mateo tow yard, inspecting the wreckage of the Tesla Model X involved in that fatal crash on southbound 101 Friday. We spotted them taking a control module out of the vehicle, tucking it into an evidence bag.The NTSB told Dan Noyes from their Washington headquarters, they recovered both the restraint control module and infotainment module on Wednesday.NTSB Spokesman Christopher O'Neil said, "We're going to work with CHP and Tesla to download the information from those modules and then see what data is available to us that might give insights into what was going on during the accident sequence."We're learning much more about the victim -- 38-year-old Walter Huang had a wife and two kids, lived in Foster City, worked for 13 years as a programmer at Electronic Arts. This past November, he got a job as an Apple engineer and bought his new Tesla, posting a picture on his Facebook page.He showed the SUV to his friends and former co-workers; we spoke with two outside Electronic Arts on Wednesday."He was proud," said Shawn Price. "He was showing the gull wings, I remember going, a little bit of jealousy, like well."Dan Noyes also spoke and texted with Walter Huang's brother, Will, today. He confirmed Walter was on the way to work at Apple when he died.He also makes a startling claim -- that before the crash, Walter complained "7-10 times the car would swivel toward that same exact barrier during Autopilot. Walter took it into dealership addressing the issue, but they couldn't duplicate it there.""The family is telling me they provided an invoice to investigators, that the victim took the car in because it kept veering at the same barrier. How important is that information?""That information has been received by the CHP, they've been acting on it for some time now."Tesla would not comment on the information we've learned, and directed us to last night's blog post, "Our data shows that Tesla owners have driven this same stretch of highway with Autopilot engaged roughly 85,000 times since Autopilot was first rolled out in 2015. ... There are over 200 successful Autopilot trips per day on this exact stretch of road."Tesla also posted these photos that raise another important question: they show what's called a "crash attenuator" or safety barrier in the proper condition ... and the way it was the day before Walter Huang's crash ... collapsed after a different accident.Will Huang texted us, "That ultimately should've saved my brother's life. We've seen videos of similar crash with cushion and the driver walked out of it unharmed."Walter Huang's friends are remembering his contributions to the gaming world. "He did some good stuff on some great games that I know some viewers out there will know him for," Shawn Price told the I-Team.And they're missing his friendship during trips to the gym."We would get together just work it out and he would be there keeping you safe," said Price. "I mean that's what spotters do keep you safe and I know very much that he did the same thing for his family.""He slept with his kids when they had nightmares," Travis Hoffstetter told us. "He painted his daughters nails, he let his daughter paint his nails, just did like everything awesome that you should do as a dad he did."We called, but no word from CalTrans about that collapsed safety barrier that Walter Huang hit. His friends are raising money for Walter's wife and kids, to handle the expenses of the funeral and life after his death. If you're interested, click here for the link.Caltrans offered a statement:Tesla did not comment.
– The Tesla Model X that slammed into a highway barrier in California last week and killed the 38-year-old Apple engineer at the wheel had been on autopilot at the time of the crash, Tesla confirms in a blog post. But the company says driver Walter Huang "received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive," adding that "the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision." Tesla also laid some blame on state highway officials, asserting that "the reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced." The fact that the vehicle was on autopilot is likely to be controversial because, as ABC News notes, driver Huang had reportedly been concerned about it. His brother told KGO that Huang had brought his Model X back to the dealership complaining that when he used the feature, the car kept swerving toward the very same barrier that it eventually struck in the fatal collision. The NTSB is investigating the crash, including the fire that broke out after the collision. The accident follows another in Arizona in which a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian.