After Probing Tesla's Deadly Crash, Feds Say Yay to Self-Driving

On May 7, 2016, Joshua Brown made a grim entry in the annals of technological history. The 40-year-old Ohio resident, driving a Tesla Model S, slammed into the side of a tractor trailer turning across his path on a divided highway in central Florida, becoming the first person to die in a partially autonomous car. Brown's Tesla was in "Autopilot" mode at the time of the crash, and neither human nor computer hit the brakes. The grisly collision peeled the roof off the car and raised concerns about the safety of semi-autonomous systems, and the way in which Tesla had delivered the feature to customers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into how Autopilot works and its role in the Florida crash, and on Thursday published its findings.