Tesla on Autopilot Rear Ended Police Car While ‘Driver’ was Watching a Movie

Police along with the U.S. 64 West near the Nash and Franklin counties border in North Carolina didn’t have any problems finding Raleigh resident Dr. Devainder Goli not long after midnight on Wednesday after his Tesla vehicle crashed into a Nash County Sheriff’s Office patrol car, which then crashed into a North Carolina State Highway Patrol cruiser.

Those squad cars were parked along Highway 64, where the officer drivers were at nearby while responding to an unrelated accident. Both officers were reportedly knocked down but did not sustain any serious injuries. The area of the incident was about 13 miles outside the North Carolina town of Nashville.

The emergency room doctor, age 66, was streaming and watching a movie on his smartphone when the crash took place, police said. The doctor is charged with “watching an electronic viewing device while operating a motor vehicle.” The Tesla car was driving itself in autopilot mode.

Goli was not injured either, but his car and the sheriff’s vehicle appeared to have been damaged significantly. The right side and front of the doctor’s Tesla Model S sedan looked severely damaged. The left side on the rear of the sheriff’s vehicle was smashed.

News media haven’t stated what movie Goli was watching when the collision happened.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.