Police said on Wednesday that a Lexus self-driving car crushed a young man to death last week after the owner of the car operated it remotely.
Michael Kusanovic, a young man from New Jersey, was standing between two Lexus cars that were parked when one of the cars was running accidentally, according to the preliminary investigation.
The authorities believe that the remote control feature somehow caused the car to roll forward, with Kusanovic stuck between the two cars.
Police said that many passersby managed to push the car back, but "while doing this, the car rolled over again and threw the pedestrians between the two cars again."
Kusanovi was transferred to the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, and pronounced dead the next day.
No one was arrested, and it is unclear whether the police spoke to the driver who operated the car remotely.
Streetsblog also suggests that the company understands that there is a potential situation that may be "life threatening" due to the feature of self-operation, as the owner's manual warns that "Never operate the engine remotely if you are not aware of the conditions surrounding the vehicle because it may cause a situation threatening Life is for those who are close to the car. "
It is not clear why the vehicle is moving forward, as the system is not supposed to operate remotely unless the vehicle is on hold.
"I've never heard of this before," a police spokesman said, while Lexus had not commented on the incident.