Italo Frigoli was trying out the Full Self-Driving software of his Tesla one evening in June when he came upon a railroad crossing. The arms were descending and lights were flashing as a train barreled toward the intersection.
For most human drivers, the gate arms and lights are clear signals to stop, but for Frigoli’s Tesla, which was driving in a semiautonomous mode, the potentially deadly situation didn’t seem to register.
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“It felt like it was going to run through the arms,” he said. “So obviously I just slammed on the brakes.” He stopped just a few feet from the crossing near his home in North Texas, barely avoiding disaster.
Video from the car’s cameras, reviewed by NBC News, appears to support his account. An