WASHINGTON – Federal investigators say the driver who was killed when his Tesla sedan crashed while in self-driving mode was speeding just before hitting the side of a tractor-trailer.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Tuesday that the Tesla Model S was travelling at 74 mph in a 65-mph zone on a divided highway in Williston, Florida, near Gainesville.
The report says the driver, Joshua Brown, 40, a tech company owner from Canton, Ohio, was using the sedan’s cruise control and lane-keeping features at the time. Those features are part of the vehicle’s Autopilot self-driving system, but the NTSB report doesn’t mention the system.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which also is investigating the crash, has said the Autopilot was engaged.
