Tesla SUV was in Autopilot mode before fatal crash into Pasco pond, troopers say

A Tesla SUV was in Autopilot mode this week before it veered off a Pasco County road and into a pond, killing the driver and injuring a passenger, troopers said.The crash happened about 8 p.m. Tuesday as an 87-year-old Wesley Chapel man was driving a Model Y in Autopilot mode while heading east on Overpass Road, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. East of the intersection with Infinite Drive, the Tesla left the road, struck an electrical box and continued into a pond, where it became submerged.The driver was taken to a hospital and died there. A 75-year-old Wesley Chapel woman who was a passenger in the SUV was taken to a hospital to be treated for injuries that troopers said were not life-threatening.The Highway Patrol did not release the names of the driver or the passenger. A preliminary crash report was not available Friday. Photos released by the Highway Patrol show the crash happened near a bend in Overpass Road alongside a pond in front of the Watergrass subdivision.A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on the crash.Tesla’s website describes Autopilot as “a suite of driver assistance features” that comes standard with the purchase of a new vehicle “and brings new functionality to your Tesla that makes driving safer and less stressful.” Its Autosteer function “assists in steering within a clearly marked lane, and uses traffic-aware cruise control.” The cruise control function “matches the speed of your vehicle to that of the surrounding traffic,” the website says.The website warns that Autopilot and Tesla’s so-called full self-driving capability “require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”The Autopilot function has been at the center of several lawsuits against the company, including a Florida case in which a jury found that the carmaker was partially responsible for a 2019 crash in Key Largo that killed a 22-year-old college student and severely injured her boyfriend. It was the first federal jury trial stemming from a fatal accident involving Autopilot, The New York Times reported. The driver of the Model S sedan said that when he dropped his phone while driving and bent to pick it up, he thought the system would brake if an obstacle was in the way, according to the Times. Instead, the car blew through a stop sign at a T-intersection and crashed into a parked SUV. It also struck Naibel Benavides and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who were standing nearby. The jury verdict required Tesla to pay as much as $243 million in punitive and compensatory damages to Benavides’ parents and to Angulo. Tesla, which argued the Model S driver was reckless and bore the blame, appealed. In February, a federal judge denied the company’s bid to toss the verdict. Tesla has won at least one similar case filed in a California court and settled several others, according to the Times.