NORWALK — A lawyer representing the man who struck a police cruiser and another car on Interstate 95 while driving his Tesla on autopilot is blaming the crash on the automotive company’s misleading marketing.

Mark Sherman, the Stamford criminal defense attorney representing 33-year-old Bruno Alves, of Waterbury, said his client was relying on Tesla’s autopilot function when the crash occurred early Saturday morning.

While Tesla has said cars on autopilot are not autonomous and still require drivers, Sherman argued the name “autopilot” suggests something different entirely.

“The name of the function is very misleading,” Sherman said. “It’s called ‘autopilot’ for a reason, and drivers seem to be relying on it.”

Since Alves was not speeding at the time of the crash, Sherman said, he hopes the court will see the incident “as an accident and not a crime.”

“Clearly, the technology has not been perfected and my client is just relieved that nobody was hurt,” Sherman said.

Alves owned the car, a Tesla Model 3, for nearly two years before the crash, and he frequently used the autopilot function, according to Sherman.

Tesla could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Alves was driving north on I-95 near Exit 15 in Norwalk around 12:40 a.m. Saturday when the crash occurred. Alves told police he was checking on his dog in the back seat in the moments before the accident.

One of the two cars Alves struck was a Connecticut State Police cruiser as a trooper stood nearby. Two troopers had been stopped in the area to assist a disabled vehicle on the highway.

There were no serious injuries reported in the crash, police said.

Alves was issued a misdemeanor summons for reckless driving and first-degree reckless endangerment.

Following the crash, state police issued a reminder to drivers of cars with autopilot capabilities.

“Regardless of your vehicle’s capabilities, when operating a vehicle your full attention is required at all times to ensure safe driving,” police pointed out in a Facebook post, noting that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not yet designated any vehicles for sale capable of fully automated driving.

On Tuesday, the Westport Police Department announced the newest addition to its fleet will be a 2020 Telsa Model 3. The 310-mile range electric vehicle is being outfitted with police equipment, including emergency lights and sirens, a computer, weapon rack and and tires capable of sustaining speeds of more than 100 mph.

However, this weekend’s crash has renewed public scrutiny over autopilot features in cars.

Business Insider reported in August that Tesla was being sued by the family of a Florida man who was killed in a crash seconds after activating autopilot mode.

According to the report, 50-year-old Jeremy Beren Banner was driving a Tesla Model 3, the same car involved in Norwalk crash, when he activated autopilot and seconds later crashed into a tractor trailer.

The car, which was traveling about 68 mph at the time, had its roof torn off and continued traveling for 1,690 feet after the collision, Business Insider reported.

In May, the family of Apple engineer Walter Huang, who died when his Tesla crashed into a highway barrier while on autopilot in March 2018, also sued the company, alleging the car was "defective in its design," according to Forbes.

Tesla, however, claims that early statistical data tells another story.

The company’s safety report indicates that in the third quarter of this year, fewer accidents occurred while Teslas were driven in autopilot than when the function was deactivated.

Tesla registered 1 accident per every 4.34 million miles driven with autopilot activated, as compared to 1 in every 2.70 million miles driven without autopilot but with active safety features.

Overall, Tesla drivers were involved in accidents at rates below the national average, per the report.

The automotive and energy giant did, however, go to lengths to point out that its cars still require attentive drivers.

“Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” the company’s website says.

But not everyone is paying attention.

An NBC10 Boston investigation last month that showed Tesla drivers bypassing a safety feature so that they did not need to keep their hands on the wheel.

If drivers keep their hands off the wheel for more than 30 seconds, they are supposed to trigger a series of safety alerts, the report said.

But by tricking the sensors using everything from weights to oranges, Tesla operators have found ways to cruise while they sleep, according to NBC.

In the wake of the investigation, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey asked Tesla to act on the problem and prevent drivers from evading safety features, NBC reported.