The Snohomish man had set his car on Autopilot and was looking at his cellphone when he struck a motorcyclist on Highway 522 on Friday, court records show.

A 56-year-old Snohomish man had set his Tesla Model S on Autopilot and was looking at his cellphone on Friday when he struck and killed a motorcyclist in front of him in Monroe, court records show.

A Washington State Patrol trooper arrested the Tesla driver at the crash site on Highway 522 at Fales Road shortly before 4 p.m. on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The motorcyclist, Jeffrey Nissen, 28, of Stanwood, died at the scene, records show.

The Tesla driver told a state trooper he was driving home from having lunch in Bothell and was looking at his phone when he heard a bang and felt his car lurch forward, accelerate and hit the motorcyclist, according to the affidavit.

The man told the trooper his Tesla got stuck on top of the motorcyclist and couldn’t be moved in time to save him, the affidavit states.

The trooper cited the driver’s “inattention to driving, while on autopilot mode, and the distraction of the cell phone while moving forward,” and trusting “the machine to drive for him” as probable cause for a charge of vehicular manslaughter, according to the affidavit.

The man was booked into the Snohomish County Jail and was released Sunday after posting bond on his $100,000 bail, jail records show.

  • @[email protected]English
    20•7 months ago

    It’s poorly named. A more accurate, less marketing influenced name would be “Adaptive Cruise Control with Lane Assist” for the basic “Autopilot”.

    • @jacksilver
      15•7 months ago

      I think it’s more fair to say it is maliciously named. It’s false advertising and leading to issues exactly like the one mentioned in this post.

      • @ArtVandelayEnglish
        4•7 months ago

        But Elmo would never do such a thing /s

      • @AA5B
        2•7 months ago

        ambitiously named.

    • @AA5B
      3•7 months ago

      There’s a pretty important distinction here: people using autopilot and full self driving interchangeably when they are very different things. It’s important to know which.

      • autopilot is mostly a better adaptive cruise control. You shouldn’t expect to be hands off anymore than any other adaptive cruise control
      • full self driving is much more capable and may tempt people to be hands off. In ideal conditions it can literally do all the driving. However it’s not yet ready for all the less than ideal conditions, plus they have feedback to keep your hands on the wheel. Whether or not you think this is falsely advertised, you can not be hands off without working around the sensors. The driver can’t claim ignorance
    • @just_change_it
      3•7 months ago

      If you try using adaptive cruise control and lane assist functions as a method to keep your hands off the wheel you’re going to be in for a bad time.

      I’m sure it’s not all cars, but all the ones i’ve been in over the past 10 years generally only jerk you back to the middle of the lane. They don’t adapt well if you’re cut off suddenly at high speeds either.

      • @AA5B
        2•7 months ago

        I find it much smoother and more consistent than my Subaru was, but clearly NOT ready for hands free. If it’s only “autopilot”, it really is just a nicer adaptive cruise control with lane keeping.