A fatal accident in China has thrust Tesla’s transparency into sharp focus, posing fresh and daunting questions as to how safe Tesla’s Autopilot really is.

New reports surfaced in China about a crash that killed a 23-year-old occupant while driving a Tesla Model S in Handan, a city about 300 miles south of Beijing. This took place on January 20, 2016—four months before Joshua Brown died in Florida, in a Tesla Model S on Autopilot.

The Chinese government news channel CCTV reported that the Chinese driver, Gao Yaning, borrowed his father’s Tesla Model S. He was driving on the highway, when his car hit a street-sweeper truck on the side of the road at highway speed.

The police found no sign that the vehicle applied the brakes before hitting the truck. Local media reported that the Autopilot was engaged at the time of the accident. That crash, according to the Chinese reports, was under investigation for the first half of this year, the result of which is a lawsuit filed in July by the victim’s family against Tesla China.

By: DocMemory
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