NHTSA said it has identified 11 instances across nine different states where Tesla vehicles that had engaged either its "Autopilot" or "Traffic Aware Cruise Control" modes crashed into vehicles driven by first responders on scene at an investigation. Shortly after the agency began scrutinizing the company, a Tesla Model 3 struck a parked police car and a Mercedes SUV in Orlando, Fla., with the driver telling officers she was using Autopilot at the time of the crash. While Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has been bullish on his company's efforts, describing them as "arguably the leaders in real-world AI" during Tesla's first " AI Day " last month, he has also been more measured in some recent comments. In late August, he said in a tweet that Tesla's latest self-driving software update was "not great" but noted that the company's AI team was working "as fast as possible" to improve it. Tesla's critics, meanwhile, are keen to rein in the company.