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Tesla unsure if Autopilot involved in second crash

UPDATE, JULY 22: And now, a good-news story on Tesla's Autopilot. Elon Musk has tweeted a letter from a Model S owner that describes his belief that Autopilot saved the life of a pedestrian he nearly hit. 


US authorities are investigating the crash of a Tesla Model X in Pennsylvania, with the driver claiming that the semi-autonomous Autopilot system was active at the time.

On July 1, US time, a Tesla Model X hit a guard rail on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, cutting across several lanes before hitting the concrete median strip, and flipping onto its roof.

Both the driver, Albert Scaglione, and his son-in-law, Tim Yanke, survived the crash. According to a crash report obtained by the Detroit Free Press, Scaglione claims that the Model X was in Autopilot mode at the time of the incident.

The newspaper says that that section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike demands full driver attention as it features narrow shoulders, and a concrete media strip.

In a statement to Electrek, Tesla said: "We received an automated alert from this vehicle on July 1 indicating airbag deployment, but logs containing detailed information on the state of the vehicle controls at the time of the collision were never received.

"This is consistent with damage of the severity reported in the press, which can cause the antenna to fail. As we do with all crash events, we immediately reached out to the customer to confirm they were ok and offer support but were unable to reach him.

"We have since attempted to contact the customer three times by phone without success. Based on the information we have now, we have no reason to believe that Autopilot had anything to do with this accident."

The crash is currently being investigated by the Pennsylvania state police. The National Highway Transport Safety Administration (NHTSA) also said that it was trying to determine "whether automated functions were in use at the time of the crash".

News of this latest accident comes just days after it was confirmed that a man died when his Tesla Model S crashed into a truck while it was in Autopilot mode. On the weekend, the truck driver involved claimed that the man in the Model S was playing a Harry Potter movie at the time of the accident.

That crash, which occurred in May, is also currently being investigated by NHTSA.

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