What happened

The incident occurred in the small town of Woodland, California, where local police posted about the incident, urging drivers to “be careful when using Tesla’s Autopilot feature.”

A seriously dangerous incident occurred this morning when the autopilot confused the railroad tracks with the road.
– said in the statement.

The police did not mention any negative consequences for the driver or the vehicle, so it can be concluded that everything went well and no one was injured.

Tesla car on the tracks / Photo by Woodland Police Department

This isn’t the first time the FSD system has misunderstood terrain. We’ve seen Tesla electric cars misinterpret objects on the road many times in the past, such as mistaking headlights for traffic lights.

Tesla’s Autopilot has already caused more than 200 crashes and 29 deaths, but Tesla owners continue to use it. In May, a Tesla using a supposedly more advanced fully autonomous driving mode approached a speeding train. The car didn’t even think to brake. But the driver luckily had time to react and swerved.

It’s worth noting that despite numerous updates and promises, the FSD system remains stuck at level two of autonomy. Level 2 means that Autopilot still requires the driver to keep their hands on the wheel and monitor the road ahead of taking control at any time if something goes wrong.