Tesla Autopilot crash in Florida marks the 12th instance of a collision with first responders

A 12th crash will be added to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's list of Tesla Autopilot incidents to be investigated, after a Florida Highway Patrol car was struck while stopped on the shoulder.

As reported by CNBC, a Tesla Model 3 was travelling with Autopilot engaged when it collided with a police car and a Mercedes-Benz SUV, which were parked on the road's shoulder at 5am. Fortunately no-one was injured.

The Florida Highway Patrol told CNBC the state trooper's vehicle had pulled over to assist the Mercedes owner, whose car had become disabled – with both cars unoccupied at the time of the collision with the Model 3.

2

The driver of the Tesla claims she had its Autopilot system activated at the time of the incident, becoming yet another example of the cars crashing into emergency vehicles – following 11 incidents reported to the end of last month.

Of the 12 incidents, seven have resulted in 17 individual injuries with at least one death. Despite the seemingly high frequency of Teslas colliding with first responders, there are just over 765,000 Autopilot-equipped vehicles in the United States alone – meaning the aforementioned incidents account for a small amount of overall crashes.

As Tesla's Autopilot system is actually a Level 2 autonomous driving system, it still requires human supervision and, in some cases, intervention, to prevent incidents – a focal point of the NHTSC's investigation.