An 80-year-old man was killed Friday when a Tesla Model S, an electric car with some autonomous capabilities, struck him as he rode his bike near the U.K. village of High Shincliffe.
The cyclist—identified as Fred Heppell, a former bank manager from Lanchester, U.K.—was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he later died. Initial news reports did not indicate if the driver faces any charges, although police are reportedly seeking eyewitnesses to the crash.
While not a fully self-driving vehicle, the Model S has an autopilot feature that allows the car to steer itself in certain circumstances. Promotional videos online show test drivers letting go of the steering wheel while the vehicle maintains speed and control on relative straightaways. (It tops out at 90 miles per hour in autopilot mode, according to the company website.) The car can also change lanes and park on its own.
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It’s unclear if the driver in Friday’s crash had applied the autonomous technology at the time of the collision. U.K. reporters described the road where the crash occurred as “predominantly a straight road with gentle inclines.” Heppell was, by all accounts, an experienced rider.
“Fred averaged 10,000 miles per year on his bike and with his wife by his side had cycled across America, Australia, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, and a host of European countries in his retirement years,” Heppell’s family told the British press.
While Tesla says it encourages Model S drivers to stay alert and keep their hands near the steering wheel, even when in autopilot, the availability of (quasi) self-driving cars raises all kinds of questions about any dangers the vehicles may pose to cyclists.
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During Google's experiments with self-driving cars in Austin, Texas, in 2015, one cyclist reported that the technology did not know how to safely maneuver around him while he was trackstanding at an intersection. Later, Uber’s unsanctioned self-driving tests in San Francisco revealed that its cars regularly flouted certain traffic laws, resulting in scenarios—notably, making right turns across bike lanes—that could put cyclists at risk.
Last year, a man was killed when his Tesla Model S, in autopilot mode, crashed on a highway in Florida. Observers called it the first known traffic death involving self-driving technology. If the car in Friday’s crash was piloting itself, then Heppell could become the second.
Tesla has not responded to a request for comment. We will update this story as further details emerge.
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Matt is a reporter, writer, and editor who has covered bicycling since 2014, when he cofounded a small bike magazine called SPOKE in Philadelphia. His work has a particular focus on where the bicycle intersects with politics, culture, and technology.
