In the video, the car speeds toward a railroad crossing with a moving train before the car veers suddenly to the right, slamming into a railroad crossing arm and skidding off the road.
According to video from the car and the police report, conditions were foggy, but dashcam video of the crash shows that moving boxcars and the telltale flashing red lights of an active train crossing signal could be seen at least five seconds before the accident.
The accident caused significant damage to the front right side of the car. Pictures taken by Doty show the car’s mangled body and the front right wheel twisted up at a sharp angle.
Doty said that his Tesla failed to slow down as it approached the train and that he slammed on the brakes and took over the car’s steering manually, directing it off the road to avoid the train.
“I was like there’s no way it doesn’t see the train,” he said. “There’s no way it doesn’t see the flashing lights. Yes, it was foggy, but you can still see the lights.”
Full Self-Driving mode, often shortened to FSD, is Tesla’s premium driver assistance option. CEO Elon Musk has promoted it as a crucial part of the company’s future. Tesla says parts of the technology are in beta mode, such as “autosteer,” meaning they are still being tested. Tesla sells the product to drivers for $8,000 upfront or $99 per month.
FSD requires drivers to keep their hands on the wheel of the vehicle while it steers for them; Tesla refers to the application of the technology as “supervised.” On its website, Tesla says, “Your vehicle will be able to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal driver intervention and will continuously improve.”
The website says farther down on the same page: “The currently enabled Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous. Full autonomy will be dependent on achieving reliability far in excess of human drivers as demonstrated by billions of…
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