The Tesla driver killed in a May 7 collision with a truck might have been watching a Harry Potter movie at the time of the crash while the car was in autopilot mode, according to one witness. Joshua D. Brown was killed when the Tesla Model S he was in crashed into the side of a tractor-trailer in Florida, leading to a government investigation of the car’s autopilot system.
Frank Baressi, the owner and operator of the truck, told the Associated Press that Brown was “playing Harry Potter on the TV screen” at the time of the crash. Police confirmed that a portable D.V.D. player was found in the car, although they have not determined whether it was operating at the time of the crash.
“It was still playing when he died and snapped a telephone pole a quarter mile down the road,” Baressi said, acknowledging he didn’t see the movie play, but heard the dialogue.
In a statement, Tesla noted that it disables autopilot by default in its cars and “requires explicit acknowledgement that the system is new technology and still in a public beta phase before it can be enabled.” During the time of the accident, both Brown and the autopilot system failed to apply the brake pedal, according to government records.
Tesla, one of several companies vying to bring self-driving cars to market, has warned car owners that its autopilot feature is not applicable to all road conditions and not reliable enough for a driver to stop paying attention. The accident is a setback for Elon Musk, Tesla C.E.O., who is working to grow the car brand from its largely tech-obsessed niche audience into the mainstream.