A man using Tesla Motors’ semi-autonomous vehicle died on 7 May in a crash after cameras inside the Tesla Model S failed to distinguish between a turning tractor trailer and the sky (reflected on it). This is the first autonomous car accident.

In a blog post published on 30 June, Tesla refers to the incident as “a tragic loss” but reminds that this is “the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated”. “Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles.”

The Tesla team underlines that the company “disables Autopilot by default” because it is on its beta phase. “When drivers activate Autopilot, the acknowledgment box explains, among other things, that Autopilot is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all time“.

Read the full blog post on teslamotors.com