Durham cyclist may be world’s first to die in collision with a Tesla – unclear if it was in Autopilot mode

An 80-year-old cyclist from County Durham has been killed in a collision involving a Tesla car in what may be the first fatality of a bike rider involving a semi-autonomous vehicle.

It’s the first time we are aware of a cyclist being killed in a road traffic collision involving a car capable of semi-autonomous operation, certainly in the UK, and we suspect it may be the first such incident anywhere in the world.

It is not clear whether the car was in Autopilot, or semi-autonomous, mode at the time of the fatal crash, but concerns have been raised in the past over the safety of such vehicles, including around cyclists, with a robotics expert warning earlier this year that “bikers will die” as a result of the technology.

Last month we highlighted concerns raised in a review of another car with semi-autonomous operation – the new BMW G32 640iGT – around cyclists on the road.

> Semi-autonomous BMW ‘will fight’ driver to deliver close passes of cyclists

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http://road.cc/content/news/232332-durham-cyclist-may-be-worlds-first-die-collision-tesla-%E2%80%93-unclear-if-it-was