WASHINGTON – The first U.S. fatality using self-driving technology took place in May when the driver of a Tesla S sports car operating the vehicle's "Autopilot" automated driving system died after a collision with a truck in Florida, federal officials said Thursday. The government is investigating the design and performance of Tesla's system. Preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer rig made a left turn in front of the Tesla at an intersection of a divided highway where there was no traffic light, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The Tesla driver died due to injuries sustained in the crash, which took place May 7 in Williston, Florida, the agency said. The city is southwest of Gainesville.

A Tesla driver was killed in a collision in Florida with a tractor trailer while the vehicle was in "Autopilot" mode, the car maker announced Thursday. It is the first known fatality in more than 130 million miles driven with autopilot activated, Tesla said in a statement which also expressed condolences to the driver's family. Bryan Thomas, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said it was investigating the fatality to see if the autopilot system was to blame. But Tesla acknowledged that the accident might have been the fault of the computer. The crash occurred May 7 when Joshua David Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio, was behind the wheel of his black 2015 Model S Tesla, while in Autopilot mode on U.S. Route-27 in Williston, Fla., and hit the side of a tractor trailer that was crossing the road to make a turn.

A Tesla Model S driver using the car's semi-autonomous Autopilot feature died when the car hit an 18-wheeler, the first known fatality involving technology that remains in beta testing. The collision occurred May 7 when the big-rig made a left turn in from of the Model S at an intersection on a divided highway in Williston, Florida. "Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied" and the car drove under the trailer, the automaker said today. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a Special Crash Investigations Team to examine the vehicle and the crash scene. Experts from the agency's Office of Defects Investigation plan to examine the design and performance of the Autopilot system.

We learned yesterday evening that NHTSA is opening a preliminary evaluation into the performance of Autopilot during a recent fatal crash that occurred in a Model S. This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated. Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles. Worldwide, there is a fatality approximately every 60 million miles. It is important to emphasize that the NHTSA action is simply a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the system worked according to expectations. Following our standard practice, Tesla informed NHTSA about the incident immediately after it occurred.

Federal regulators are investigating Tesla's autopilot feature after a fatal crash involving a tractor trailer and one of its Model S cars. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the investigation after a man was killed while driving a Model S with the self-driving mode engaged. "This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated," Tesla said in a statement Thursday. It called the incident a "tragic loss." The car was on a divided highway when a tractor trailer apparently turned in front of it.

The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may become a setback for the growing number of tech and car companies investing heavily in autonomous driving technology. Regulators scrambled last year to write new rules for self-driving cars after Tesla announced hasty plans to release its limited Autopilot feature. But by then, the company had already sent ripples through the auto industry. In January, at the Consumer Electronics Show -- more or less the Detroit Auto Show of tech -- it seemed nearly every major car company unveiled some kind of autonomous feature. The first death in a self-driving car could stoke fears over the technology and temper the industry's growth. The majority of traffic accidents, which result in about 35,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, are caused by human error.

A preliminary investigation has begun for a fatal car crash involving a Tesla Model S.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the electric model sedan had Autopilot mode engaged when a driver was killed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a preliminary evaluation into the fatal crash of a Tesla electric car that had its "Autopilot" feature engaged at the time of the incident. NHTSA says in its filing that the crash was reported by Tesla and that its probe, part of a process that can eventually lead to a recall, centers on the car's self-driving feature. "This preliminary evaluation is being opened to examine the design and performance of any automated driving systems in use at the time of the crash," the safety agency said in a filing. The crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of a 2015 Tesla on a highway near Williston, Fla., NHTSA said. The driver died due to injuries sustained in the accident.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Board is opening a preliminary evaluation into Tesla's autopilot feature, after the fatal crash of a Model S that was in self-driving mode, the electric automaker said Thursday. According to a blog post from Tesla Motors Inc., the car was on a unnamed, divided highway when a tractor trailer drove across the road perpendicular to the Model S. "Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied," Tesla said in the post. The Model S passed under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S, Tesla said. Tesla said this was the first fatality in which the autopilot feature was activated, with more than 130 million miles driven using that feature. The Palo Alto automaker said it informed NHTSA about the incident "immediately after it occurred."

FILE - In this Monday, April 25, 2016, file photo, a man sits behind the steering wheel of a Tesla Model S electric car on display at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing. Federal officials say the driver of a Tesla S sports car using the vehicle's "autopilot" automated driving system has been killed in a collision with a truck, the first U.S. self-driving car fatality. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla at a highway intersection. NHTSA said the Tesla driver died due to injuries sustained in the crash, which took place on May 7 in Williston, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) The Associated Press

U.S. auto-safety regulators are investigating Tesla Motors Inc.'s autopilot feature after a motorist using the system died in Florida, ratcheting up scrutiny of the Silicon Valley electric-vehicle company's highly-touted technology and driverless cars more broadly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a so-called preliminary evaluation into the design and performance of automated driving systems in Tesla's Model S, the agency said Thursday. A preliminary evaluation is an initial official probe by the...