'It happened so fast': inside a fatal Tesla autopilot accident

Neither he nor Autopilot noticed that the road was ending and the Model S drove past a stop sign and a flashing red light. The car smashed into a parked Chevrolet Tahoe, killing a 22-year-old college student, Naibel Benavides. One of a growing number of fatal accidents involving Tesla cars operating on Autopilot, McGee's case is unusual because he survived and told investigators what had happened: He got distracted and put his trust in a system that did not see and brake for a parked car in front of it. Tesla drivers using Autopilot in other fatal accidents have often been killed, leaving investigators to piece together the details from data stored and videos recorded by the cars. "I was driving and dropped my phone," McGee told an officer who responded to the accident, according to a recording from a police body camera.