Tesla driver killed in crash while using car's 'Autopilot'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first person to die in a U.S. crash involving a car in self-driving mode was the tech-savvy 40-year-old owner of a Tesla Model S who nicknamed his car "Tessy" and praised its sophisticated "Autopilot" system.

Joshua D. Brown, of Canton, Ohio, died in the May 7 crash in Williston, Florida, when his car's cameras failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer rig from a brightly lit sky and didn't automatically activate its brakes, according to government records and a Tesla statement issued Thursday.

Brown, who owned a technology company, just one month earlier credited his 2015 Tesla with preventing a crash on an interstate highway.

Brown's published obituary described him as a member of the Navy SEALs for 11 years and founder of a wireless Internet network and camera system company.

Preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when Baressi's rig turned left in front of Brown at an intersection of a divided highway where there was no traffic light, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

Brown's death comes as NHTSA is taking steps to ease self-driving cars onto the nation's roads, an anticipated sea-change in driving where Tesla has been a leader.