--- title: "Tesla Running FSD Slams Into Police Cruiser After Driver Falls Asleep Behind the Wheel, Hospitalizing Two Officers With Serious Injuries" description: "A Tesla in Full Self-Driving mode slammed into a parked police car on the side of the highway after the driver allegedly fell asleep." date: "2026-10-16" modified: "2026-10-16" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/tesla-fsd-slams-police-car" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" - "Tesla" --- # Tesla Running FSD Slams Into Police Cruiser After Driver Falls Asleep Behind the Wheel, Hospitalizing Two Officers With Serious Injuries ![A photo from the California Highway Patrol shows the aftermath of a collision with a self-driving Tesla.]() *California Highway Patrol* A Tesla slammed into a police cruiser after the driver said he fell asleep behind the wheel while the vehicle's Full Self-Driving mode was activated. According to the California Highway Patrol, [*KRON4* reports](), the crash happened on the night of October 13 while the officers were pulled over to the side of Interstate 80 eastbound highway to investigate a fatal accident. Though the "lanes were closed with flares and cones, and several emergency vehicles were at the scene with emergency lights flashing," police said, the Tesla veered into the clearly cordoned-off area and slammed into their patrol car. The impact sent their ride flying into another emergency vehicle, [footage showed](). Both officers were hospitalized with serious injuries and have since been discharged from the hospital. The driver, a 22-year-old man, sustained minor injuries. "The driver claimed he was asleep and that the vehicle was operating in Tesla's Full Self-Driving mode at the time of the crash," CHP said. "Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision." https://twitter.com/ABC/status/2111177994773709117 Drowsy driving is a common issue with Tesla's FSD system, since it doesn't require the motorist to be as engaged. To combat this, the vehicles have several safeguards to ensure drivers stay alert, including an in-cabin camera that monitors their eyes and face — but [they don't always work](). Tesla has previously been investigated by federal regulators after an older version of its self-driving software, Autopilot, [repeatedly crashed into emergency vehicles](). In a 2024 report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration linked Autopilot and FSD to hundreds of crashes, concluding that it misled drivers into a false sense of security and caused them to be "not sufficiently engaged in the driving task." **More on Tesla:** [*Tesla Bros Posting Videos Showing Them Hog Out on Decadent Meals While Careening Down the Road in Self-Driving Mode*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()