Report says Tesla in fatal Autopilot crash was speeding

While the agency stopped short of saying what likely caused the crash, it did note the vehicle was speeding at the time of impact.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Tuesday that the Tesla was traveling at 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour in a zone where the limit was 65 miles per hour.

Tesla spokeswoman Khobi Brooklyn didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed questions. The automotive tech company that builds chips and software for driver-assistance systems said that it is not in the company’s best interest to move forward with the Palo Alto electric auto maker. It is unclear when the contract ends, but a new Mobileye system-called the EyeQ4-comes out in 2018. It all looks a bit too flawless, as if Tesla was looking for a reason to give Mobileye the boot.

Tesla took another hit June 30 when US highway safety regulators disclosed they were investigating the fatal May 7 crash involving Tesla’s Autopilot system, which takes partial control of steering and braking.

The NTSB said at the time of the collision, the tractor trailer was making a left turn from westbound US -27A across the two eastbound travel lanes onto a local paved road.

Mobileye thinks that the future of the development of self-driving cars will require automobile manufacturers and technology companies such as itself to work together in a true partnership.

Mobileye said it would concentrate on systems that lead to full autonomy rather than systems that take partial control from drivers.

The driver identified as Joshua Brown was the first known fatality driving a Model S while the Autopilot system was operating.

Mobileye doesn’t believe the traditional relationship between a supplier and automaker is ideal in the era of autonomous vehicles.

She said the police force is still considering whether to issue a traffic citation to the truck driver for failing to yield.

In revealing the crash on June 30, nearly two months after it happened, government officials and the automaker said the car’s cameras failed to distinguish the white side of the turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and didn’t automatically activate its brakes.

“It’s very important given this accident…that companies would be very transparent about the limitations” of autonomous driving systems, Mr. Shashua, Mobileye’s technical officer, said at a joint news conference with BMW and Intel earlier this month.