Video of the Tesla Model S Bay Bridge pileup seemingly confirms erratic FSD braking in the fast lane

The Tesla Model S Bay Bridge tunnel crash that caused massive delays over the Thanksgiving holiday in San Francisco was a sordid 8-car pileup affair for which the driver blamed Tesla's Full Self-driving Beta mode that he said was active at the time. While such claims are a dime a dozen now coming from Tesla car drivers engaged in any form of accident, a video of the tunnel cameras obtained via a California Public Records Act request seemingly confirms the driver's explanation.

On the footage, the Model S can be seen clearly signaling a switch to the fast lane with a blinker, then making the maneuver and inexplicably slowing down to about 20 mph abruptly before the SUV coming behind it. This forces the next vehicle to step on the brakes and bump into the Tesla at low speed, while the next few cars coming in fast weren't so lucky and slammed in the car before them causing the massive pileup.

If some of Tesla's autonomous driving systems has been engaged and there was no input from the driver indeed, it behaved as if the car is getting pulled over in the emergency lane, but did it in the fast one, wreaking traffic havoc. Such behavior is also characteristic of several recent Tesla "phantom braking" reports, including ones out of China. Still, eagle-eyed observers noted that a recently installed warning light at the tunnel's exit that may have been interpreted as a red light could end up being the reason why the Tesla decided to initiate a stop.

The authorities are still investigating the Thanksgiving pileup on Bay Bridge, but incidents during which Tesla's self-driving features are suspected to have been active now also go into an NHTSA database for further probing. In fact, when speaking before reporters during an event on Monday, NHTSA's Acting Administrator Ann Carlson informed that the government agency is "working really fast" on its investigations into potential Tesla Autopilot-related accidents, dedicating a lot of resources to the task. "The resources require a lot of technical expertise, actually some legal novelty and so we're moving as quickly as we can, but we also want to be careful and make sure we have all the information we need," she added.

There is also an ongoing federal investigation reviewing similar accidents for misleading "self-driving" marketing on Tesla's part which is still in its discovery phase and there are no criminal charges pending yet.

Get the Tesla Motors 24' Cable Wall Connector on Amazon