Comma.ai's driver-assist tech probed after 2 fatal crashes

Comma.ai, the startup founded by hacker George Hotz, is facing a federal investigation after five reported crashes involving the company’s aftermarket hands-off driver-assistance technology, two of which resulted in three deaths.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation said this week that the reported crashes involved Comma.ai devices failing to detect or respond to slow or stopped vehicles in the same road lane. Across four of the crashes, as many as 11 people were injured, some seriously. Some of the crashes, including at least one of the fatal incidents, may have involved the use of “forked,” or modified, versions of Comma.ai’s software, according to the ODI. Comma.ai could not immediately be reached for comment, and Hotz — who distanced himself from the startup’s day-to-day operations in 2022 — did not immediately return a request for comment.

Founded in 2015, Comma.ai makes devices that can be installed on a range of modern cars. The devices, running Comma.ai’s “openpilot” software, can control a car’s Adaptive Cruise Control and Automated Lane Centering systems to perform functions the company says are similar to Tesla Autopilot and GM Super Cruise. Comma.ai’s website states that openpilot can steer, accelerate, and brake automatically for other vehicles within its lane, though the company warns drivers they “must always be capable to immediately retake manual control of the vehicle, by stepping on either pedal or by pressing the cancel button.” The device uses a camera-based driver-monitoring system to watch for distracted or sleepy drivers.

One of the two fatal crashes appears to have happened in February 2026 in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, where a 2022 Toyota RAV4 running FrogPilot, a third-party fork of openpilot, struck a stopped first responder vehicle. Louisiana State Police said the Toyota struck a fully marked Gonzales Police Department unit that was unoccupied and positioned in the left lane with emergency lights activated while officers investigated a separate crash; two rear-seat passengers of the Toyota died. The other fatal crash could not be immediately identified from the report numbers cited by the ODI.

Advanced driver-assistance systems have historically struggled with stopped or slow vehicles and other stationary objects — Tesla and Ford have faced similar investigations after their systems were involved in multiple crashes. Comma.ai’s own website acknowledges that openpilot’s Adaptive Cruise Control performance “can be affected by vehicles in the same lane that are not moving,” and that the system “is designed to be limited in the amount of deceleration and acceleration that it can produce” when abrupt braking is required.

Why it matters

The investigation adds Comma.ai to a growing list of driver-assistance systems facing federal scrutiny over how they handle stopped or slow-moving vehicles, a known weak point across the category.