Autopilot slows a Tesla to 128 km/h before it hits a lorry

On 11 April 2017 a Tesla on Autopilot hit a lorry that cut into its lane near Bathmen. The Dutch Safety Board found that Autopilot braked the car to about 128 km/h, too late to cut speed enough.

  • Not rated a person

    The driver was not injured, but the board does not link that to the lower speed and says that the braking came too late.

Depth runs from 1, a convenience or time saved, to 5, a life or a livelihood preserved.

Status
Reported and intended benefits.
Evidence

foundstudiedreportedclaimed

An independent inquiry report supports the benefit.

Compared with

The car's speed just before the lorry cut in, from the vehicle logs. Measured.

Without the system
ongeveer 150 km/uur
With it
ongeveer 128 km/uur (127 km/uur at impact in annex C)
The system’s part
Not isolated. The board does not separate Autopilot's braking from the driver easing off the accelerator, which Tesla also cited. Its annex says that machine learning serves object detection in some driver assistance systems. It does not say whether this car's detection used it.
Limits
Not yet checked.
Costs and harms
Not yet checked.
Later
Not yet checked.

Download data Cite Suggest a correction

Benefit type
Increased Product Safety
System
Tesla Autopilot (Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer)
Made by
Tesla
Used by
Private owner
Where
A1 near Bathmen, Netherlands
Stage
In routine use
Date
Kind
Protective response
Broad benefit
Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment, Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
Collections
Scrutiny and findings, Cross-border records, Safeguards
Last revised
31 October 2026

Sources

  1. Inquiry report, by authors with no tie to the system.

    Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid (Dutch Safety Board). Wie stuurt? Verkeersveiligheid en automatisering in het wegverkeer, published 29 November 2019. Chapter 3 case box, p. 33, and annex C.2.3, pp. 118-121.

    snelheid nog af tot ongeveer 128 km/uur doordat Autopilot een voorganger detecteerde en remde – de truck reed toen met een snelheid van 98 km/uur.

Details

AI system

Workflow

Autopilot's cruise control detected a vehicle ahead and began to slow the car. The driver had set the cruise speed at 150 km/h on a two-lane motorway.

Follow-up

Conditions for replication

The system detects a vehicle that changes lanes in time to brake. The speed lies within the operating range of the car's emergency braking.

Entry details

Sector

Road vehicle crash avoidance.

Purpose

Tesla built Autopilot, a combination of adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, to keep a set speed and distance and to hold the car in its lane.

Not yet checked: model, release, provider, role, configuration, inputs and outputs, autonomy, human oversight, AI contribution, beneficiaries, reach, distribution and access, duration, every measurement question, every money question, ownership and control, dependencies, cross-border connections, geopolitical implications, replication attempts, availability, institutional decision, grounds, action and result, success criterion, every evidence question, observed or intended, alternative assessments, related entries, other identifiers, category mappings.

Cite this record

Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Autopilot slows a Tesla to 128 km/h before it hits a lorry (AIBD-0836). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 31 October 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-0836.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 4.0)

BibTeX Data Field definitions