South Brunswick: Self-driving Tesla crashes into car parked in somebody else’s driveway

🚨 The Tesla turned into a driveway and rear-ended a parked mini van

🚨 The homeowner was almost hit

🚨 The driver of the Tesla received a ticket

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A driver using the autopilot mode of a Tesla received a ticket after the car veered off the road and rear-ended an SUV sitting in a driveway on Monday afternoon.

South Brunswick police said the Tesla turned off Georges Road after 5 p.m., likely sensed an SUV coming towards it and turned into a driveway to avoid a head-on collision. Video from the Tesla showed it slam into the parked SUV, shattering the back window and pushing it into a garage.

The homeowner told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that he was gardening when the crash happened. His feet wound up under the SUV, which suffered extensive front-end damage. The Tesla had some scratches but no major body damage.

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Driver responsibility

Sgt. Tim Hoover told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that even in autopilot, the driver is responsible for the operation of their vehicle. The driver was charged with careless driving.

ABC 7 Eyewitness News was first to report this incident.

Tesla offers two levels of self-driving depending on the model: base autopilot and full self-driving (FSD), according to its website.

Base autopilot helps the car stay inside lane markings. The car's speed is regulated based on traffic flow. Full self-driving includes many automatic features for parking, accelerating and decelating for traffic signals. Minimal driver input is needed for other driving functions.

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