38-year-old Tesla Model X owner dies in Autopilot crash after system warnings fail to prevent collision with concrete median

Summary

In March 2018, Walter Huang, a Tesla Model X owner, died in a crash at 71 mph when his vehicle collided with a concrete highway median while Autopilot was engaged. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) later confirmed that the Autopilot system had previously warned Huang of the road barrier he crashed into. Tesla’s PR department at the time blamed Huang for distracted driving, despite the car issuing multiple warnings. In response to the NTSB’s investigation, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly became enraged during a call with NTSB officials, accusing them of endangering people and threatening to sue before hanging up. The NTSB had accused Tesla of violating a party agreement by releasing data prematurely and blaming the victim early in the investigation. Since then, Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software have been linked to hundreds of crashes and dozens of deaths, according to federal regulators.