AI incident ·
Tesla Driver Put Car on Autopilot Before Falling Asleep in Germany
On this page 9 sections
In brief
An AI system built and deployed by Tesla allegedly harmed Traffic Participants.
- Risk domain
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Occurred
- Coverage
- 9 reports
What happened
A Tesla driver fell asleep on an Autobahn near Bamberg, Germany after activating his vehicle's Autopilot mode, which did not respond to attempts to pull it over by the police.
Laws on record for this risk area
Policy angle: Classified under Human-Computer Interaction (Overreliance and unsafe use) in the MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy; 5 instruments on record cover this risk area.
- India DPDP Act
- Law on Artificial Intelligence (2025)
- Law No. 132/2025 on artificial intelligence
- EU AI Act
- Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA)
Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).
News reports (9)
Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Risk subdomain
- 5.1 Overreliance and unsafe use
- Causal entity
- Human
- Intent
- Intentional
- Timing
- Post-deployment
- Harm level
- —
- Sectors
- —
- Countries
- —
Risk entries describing this failure mode
Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 5.1.
- Overreliance
"Over-reliance - Unfettered and/or obsessive belief in the accuracy or other quality of a technology system, resulting in addiction, anxiety, introversion, sentience, complacency, lack of critical thinking and other actu...
- Addiction
"Addiction - Emotional or material dependence on technology or a technology system."
- Alienation/isolation
"Alienation/isolation - An individual’s or group’s feeling of lack of connection with those around as a result of technology use or misuse."
- Economic instability
"Economic instability - Uncontrolled fluctuations impacting the financial system, or parts thereof, due to the use or misuse of a technology system, or set of systems."
- Alteration of social relationships may induce psychological distress
- Social manipulation in elderly- and child-care
" the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment "
- Healthcare
"the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment (see page 17). In addition, concerns about patients’ privacy when AI uses medical records to research...
- Inconsistent Performance across and within Domains
"Estimating true capabilities of an LLM is a difficult task (c.f. Section 3.3), especially for naive users unfamiliar with the brittle nature of machine learning technologies. Exaggeration of model capabilities by the de...
Incidents in the same risk subdomain
- Lawsuit Alleged ChatGPT (GPT-4o) Encouraged Colorado Man's Suicide After Prolonged 'AI Companion' Chats
- Large-Scale Mental Health Crises Allegedly Associated with ChatGPT Interactions
- Google Gemini Reportedly Reinforced Delusions, Allegedly Contributing to Florida User's Near-Harm Episode and Suicide
- Family Reportedly Discovers ChatGPT Logs Detailing Suicidal Ideation Prior to Daughter's Death
- Purported AI Monitoring Software Reportedly Flags Unsent Joke Threat, Leading to Arizona Student Suspension
- ChatGPT Allegedly Reinforced Delusions Before Greenwich, Connecticut Murder-Suicide
Other incidents involving Tesla
- Tesla Cybertruck Operating in Full Self-Driving Mode Reportedly Crashes into Pole in Nevada After Failing to Merge
- Tesla's 'Actually Smart Summon' Feature Reportedly Linked to Multiple Parking Lot Collisions
- Tesla on Autopilot Struck Parked Work Truck on Highway in Pennsylvania
- Tesla Failed to Yield to Detected Pedestrian on Crosswalk, Reportedly Violated Traffic Law
- Tesla Allegedly on Autopilot Struck High School Student Exiting School Bus
- Sudden Braking by Tesla Allegedly on Self-Driving Mode Caused Multi-Car Pileup in Tunnel
Source record: incident #436 on the AI Incident Database · all 9 reports