Somewhere in the US of A - This dashcam video highlights one of the possible problems with the first-generation version of Tesla’s Autopilot system, although the real blame must be placed on the driver in this case.
As he put it in a post on Reddit.com:
"So I was driving in the left lane of a two lane highway. The car is AP1 (Tesla Autopilot first generation)and I've never had any problems until today. Autopilot was on didn't give me a warning. It misread the road and hit the barrier. After the airbags deployed there was a bunch of smoke and my car rolled to a grinding stop. Thankfully no one was hurt and I walked away with only bruises."
The footage below was captured on a dashcam in the car driving right behind him; it shows the Tesla following the lane markings smoothly and accurately until the yellow line disappears under a roadworks safety barrier (which, ironically, is there to protect road construction crews from people in cars).
At that point the Tesla sideswipes the safety barrier hard enough to set off some off its airbags and wreck the right front rim and tyre.
Fair enough, the Tesla’s Autopilot software failed to spot the obstruction encroaching from the left - but surely the driver should have been ready to take control as this is not a fully autonomous car and “Men at Work” signs should have made him even more cautious?