Incident 231: A Tesla Crashed into and Killed a Road Sweeper on a Highway in China

Description: A Tesla Model S collided with and killed a road sweeper on a highway near Handan, China, an accident where Tesla previously said it was not able to determine whether Autopilot was operating at the time of the crash.

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Alleged: Tesla developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed Gao Yaning and Tesla drivers.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
231
Report Count
4
Incident Date
2016-01-20
Editors
Khoa Lam
Applied Taxonomies
GMF, MIT

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

7.3. Lack of capability or robustness

Risk Domain

  1. AI system safety, failures, and limitations

Entity

AI

Timing

Post-deployment

Intent

Unintentional

Autopilot Cited in Death of Chinese Tesla Driver
nytimes.com · 2016

Tesla Motors came under renewed questioning about the safety of its Autopilot technology after news emerged on Wednesday of a fatal crash in China that may have occurred while the automated driver-assist system was operating.

The crash took…

Two Years On, A Father Is Still Fighting Tesla Over Autopilot And His Son's Fatal Crash
jalopnik.com · 2018

In early 2016, 48-year-old Gao Jubin had high hopes for the future, with plans to ease up on running a logistics company and eventually turn over control of the business to his son, Gao Yaning. But his plans were abruptly altered when Yanin…

Tesla confirms 'Autopilot' engaged in fatal crash in China
ecns.cn · 2018

Vehicle maker Tesla has confirmed that one of its electric vehicles involved in a fatal crash in northern China two years ago did have its "Autopilot" function engaged at the time of the crash, reports China Central Television (CCTV).

The T…

Tesla fatal crash case in China: company admits the car in “autopilot” when accident happened
autonews.gasgoo.com · 2018

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- A lawsuit about a fatal crash of Tesla in China has a new progress recently. In front of plentiful evidences, Tesla Motors admitted that the vehicle was under "autopilot" condition when the fatal crash happened, according…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.
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