The US National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla vehicle equipped with the company’s Autopilot system. Sources confirm the accident occurred on a highway in California, killing the driver and raising fresh questions about the safety of Musk’s self-driving technology.
Simultaneously, the UK’s Department for Transport has issued a formal demand for Tesla to share data from its UK-registered vehicles following a separate incident in London where a Tesla Model S collided with a stationary lorry. The driver survived but sustained serious injuries. British regulators are pushing for real-time access to vehicle logs, arguing that without transparency, public trust in autonomous systems cannot be secured.
Tesla has not yet complied with the UK request, citing commercial confidentiality. But the company’s refusal is drawing fire from safety campaigners who point to a rising tally of accidents linked to Autopilot. Uncovered documents from a whistleblower inside Tesla’s engineering division reveal that the company internally logged over 300 “near-miss” events in the last six months alone, events that could have been fatal had the driver not intervened.
The US probe focuses on whether the Autopilot system was active at the time of the crash and whether it failed to recognise a stationary obstacle. The NTSB has previously criticised Tesla for not issuing a recall after a 2019 incident in which a Model 3 struck a tractor-trailer. That crash also involved Autopilot. The board’s investigators are now examining whether Tesla’s software updates have adequately addressed known limitations.
British regulators are taking a harder line. The Department for Transport’s letter, seen by this journalist, demands that Tesla provide “unredacted telemetry data for all UK vehicles operating in autonomous or semi-autonomous modes.” The government is threatening to use new powers under the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act to compel compliance. This legislation, rushed through Parliament after a series of autonomous vehicle incidents, gives the Secretary of State authority to request data in the interest of public safety.
Tesla’s response has been evasive. In a statement, the company said it “cooperates fully with investigations” but offered no timeline for handing over the data. Industry insiders suggest that Musk is fighting a rearguard action to protect the company’s proprietary algorithms, which are central to its valuation. But with two governments now circling, the cost of secrecy may be rising.
The crash in California has already claimed one life. The question is how many more will die before regulators force Tesla to open its black box. In the meantime, British safety advocates are calling for an immediate ban on Autopilot use on UK roads until the system is proven safe. The government has not yet responded, but the clock is ticking.
