A Tesla Model S crashed into yet another fire truck resulting in two injuries in San Jose earlier today. The driver said that he “thought the Model S was on Autopilot”, but he was arrested under suspicion of drunk driving. I have to say “yet another fire truck” because it is the third accident involving Tesla vehicles reportedly on Autopilot and fire trucks this year alone. It happened in Culver City last January and again in San Jose a few months later. Now the San Jose Fire Fighters are complaining of another accident that happened early this morning. They reported on Twitter that a Tesla vehicle rear-ended one of their fire engines again: TESLA near miss! For the 2nd time in recent months SJ FF’s escaped serious injury as a @teslamotors “Zero Emissions” vehicle slammed into the back of a #SJFD FireEngine @ 70 MPH on Hwy 101 at 1am – Reportedly the vehicle was in auto mode but auto braking system was not engaged. pic.twitter.com/gDQzXrFZ5S — SanJoseFireFighters (@SJFirefighters) August 25, 2018 The media started reporting earlier today that Autopilot might be involved in the crash. We contacted Tesla about the situation and the company responded with the following statement: “Tesla has not yet received any data from the car, but we are working to establish the facts of the incident.” A few hours later, things got more complicated because the Tesla driver, 37-year-old Michael Tran of Monterey, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. NBC reported that the police report makes note that Tran blamed Autopilot when talking to the police officers: “Tran told officers “I think I had auto-pilot on,” but it was unclear whether the Tesla was in self-driving mode when it crashed into the firetruck. The collision sent Tran and his passenger, 26-year-old Yorleyda Londono of Monterey, to San Jose Region Medical Center with minor injuries.” Of course, Autopilot is not a “self-driving mode” as mentioned in the article. It is a driver assist system and drivers are always responsible for their vehicle when using the Autopilot’s features. Electrek’s Take It’s not the first time an allegedly drunk Tesla driver has tried to use the Autopilot card to get out of it. Earlier this year, a Tesla driver passed out allegedly drunk in his Model S and he told the police that the car was on Autopilot. To be honest, I find it hard to believe that these people don’t understand what Autopilot can do under its current form and really think that they could get in their car drunk because they had Autopilot. I think they are just doing everything they can to get out of a bad situation that they created themselves. That said, Tesla should still be interested in the data from this accident because even though Autopilot most likely had nothing to do with the cause, automatic emergency braking (AEB) should still have been a factor. According to the fire department, it didn’t activate, but it’s important to keep in mind that AEB sometimes activates to reduce the impact of the accident and not necessarily avoid it completely if it can’t. Though we don’t have enough information right now to know for sure what happened in this case. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.<doc-sep>SAN JOSE, Calif. — Authorities say a Tesla driver, who said he thought his car was in Autopilot mode, crashed into the back of a firetruck in San Jose. The California Highway Patrol says the Tesla rear-ended a fire engine that was stopped with its emergency lights activated along US-101 around 1 a.m. Saturday. The 37-year-old driver, Michael Tran, told officers, “I think I had auto-pilot on.” Tran was later arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the two firefighters in the firetruck were not injured. The newspaper says Tran and a female passenger in the Tesla were taken to San Jose Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot mode has come under scrutiny following other recent crashes. The carmaker says the function is not designed to avoid a collision and warns drivers not to rely on it entirely. It was unclear whether Autopilot was activated. Tesla says in a statement that it “has not yet received any data from the car, but we are working to establish the facts of the incident.”<doc-sep>SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Officials are investigating the cause of a crash involving a San Jose fire truck and a Tesla that left two people hurt.The crash happened around 1 a.m. on Southbound Highway 101 near Coyote Creek.Firefighters were responding to an accident when a black Tesla rear-ended one of the trucks.The two passengers in that car were taken to the hospital. Their conditions are not known. No firefighters were injured.Investigators are looking into whether the Tesla's Autopilot feature was on during the time of the crash.<doc-sep>
SAN JOSE — A Tesla crashed into the back of a San Jose fire truck on Highway 101 early Saturday, according to police. The 2015 Tesla Model S was traveling about 65 miles per hour southbound on US-101, north of Coyote Creek Golf Drive when it collided with a fire engine that had stopped in the far right lane with its emergency lights activated just after 1 a.m. Saturday, according to a news release from the California Highway Patrol. “I think I had auto-pilot on,” the driver, whom police identified as 37 year-old Michael Tran, told emergency responders, according to the news release. Police had not determined whether the car was in self-driving mode when it hit the back of the fire engine, as of Saturday night. When asked about whether the Model S was operating in Autopilot mode, a Tesla spokesperson said, “Tesla has not yet received any data from the car, but we are working to establish the facts of the incident.” The role of Autopilot has been a central factor in several accidents involving Teslas. Autopilot allows a Tesla to perform some self-driving features such as lane identification and lane changing, but doesn’t allow for fully autonomous driving of a vehicle. After Tran and his passenger were treated at a San Jose hospital for minor injuries, police arrested Tran on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and booked him into Santa Clara County Jail. TESLA near miss! For the 2nd time in recent months SJ FF’s escaped serious injury as a @teslamotors “Zero Emissions” vehicle slammed into the back of a #SJFD FireEngine @ 70 MPH on Hwy 101 at 1am – Reportedly the vehicle was in auto mode but auto braking system was not engaged. pic.twitter.com/gDQzXrFZ5S — SanJoseFireFighters (@SJFirefighters) August 25, 2018 Firefighters with the San Jose Fire Department tweeted details of the crash from an unofficial Twitter account, saying, ‘For the 2nd time in recent months SJ FF’s escaped serious injury as a @teslamotors “Zero Emissions” vehicle slammed into the back of a #SJFD FireEngine”.