"Investigators said a 2019 Tesla had a mechanical issue that caused the vehicle to lose power and stop in the middle of the interstate."
Nothing to do with Autopilot or FSD like everyone is assuming. Cars fail all the time, but it's only news if it happens to a Tesla...
That's objectively false. Hyundai/Kia recently had a huge recall that was in the news. I think because Tesla may be considered a bit of a "tech" company, there may be some bias here on HN.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-crash-driver-killed-af...
"February 28, the police have walked back that statement telling Insider that they’re unsure of what made the vehicle stop unexpectedly."
And aside from that, other car manufacturer are also often in the news when one of their car are involved in some crash and are suspected to have an issue.
But it is true that Tesla is probably even more talk about, and the reason is exactly because it has Autopilot. It is a new tech no everybody is very interested, which also brings a lot of attention to its potential failure. I think that is pretty reasonable.
Yeah, we never heard about Toyota's sudden acceleration issue that caused accidents and even deaths. Or when Ford Pintos were catching fire when hit from behind. Nope, only poor Tesla gets picked on.
-Car's power-train issue caused it to stop. Less likely in dual-motor configuration. Even less likely to happen suddenly.
-Autopilot was on and driver fell asleep - Autopilot is programmed to come to a stop if driver input is not detected.
Because it's Tesla there's great deal of attention given to Autopilot but in this circumstance, where car stopped completely, driver most likely have been unable to make the car go (for medical or technical reasons).