Tesla car on Autopilot warned driver 7 times before fatal crash, safety regulator says

A Tesla car in Autopilot mode warned its driver seven times to put his hands on the steering wheel during the 40 minutes before the crash that ended his life last year, a newly released set of reports from the National Transportation Safety Board revealed. The reports, released this week, contain a cache of details that the federal safety regulator is using in its investigation into the May 2016 crash in Florida that left 40-year-old Joshua Brown dead. The crash -- in which Brown's Tesla Model S sedan drove under the trailer of a big-rig truck that was making a left turn -- drew worldwide attention and raised questions about the safety of Tesla's semiautonomous Autopilot feature. Tesla Inc., which is based in Palo Alto and led by Elon Musk, has repeatedly called Autopilot an "assist feature." It has said that while using Autopilot, drivers must keep their hands on the wheel at all times and be prepared to take over if necessary.