In a unique car accident, a self-driving Tesla Model S hit and destroyed an autonomous Promobot, the robot model v4, on Jan. 6 in Las Vegas. The incident took place at 3000 Paradise Road, Las Vegas.

At 7 p.m., the Promobot’s engineers transported robots to the Vegas’s Congress Hall to prepare their booth at the Consumer Electronics Show, being held Jan. 8-11. All the robots were moving in a line. But one of them missed its way and drove to the roadway of the street parking lot.

At that moment, it was hit by a self driving Tesla car.

This video is property of Kevin Jenkinson, via Promobot.

After the clash, the robot was pushed aside and fell. The car continued to move and stopped 50 meters away from the accident. The passenger who was in the car while driving explains that he decided to try the self-driving mode (Full Self-Driving Capability) and chose an idle area for this test.

“There was nobody there, no men, no cars. I switched this Tesla into a self-driving mode and it started to move. And wow! A robot on the track! I thought the flivver would come round, but it bumped straightly into it! I am so sorry; the robot looks cute. And my sincere apologies to the engineers,” said George Caldera, a Tesla passenger.

As a result, the robot suffered serious damage. Parts of the body, the mechanisms of the arms, the movement platform and a head are destroyed. Now the robot is not able to take part in the exhibition and most likely there is no way to restore it.



This video is property of Steven Smith, via Promobot.

“Of course we are vexed. We brought this robot here from Philadelphia to participate at CES,” said Oleg Kivokurtsev, Promobot’s Development Director. “Now it neither cannot participate in the event not to be recovered. We will conduct an internal investigation and find out why the robot went to the roadway.”

The Tesla S reportedly uses the u-blox NEO-M8L GNSS chip. The company also in December 2018 received a patent for more accurate GNSS positioning using other vehicles as reference stations to share raw GNSS data and make positioning corrections.

Promobot is a manufacturer of autonomous service robots for business with development centers in Europe and Asia. Several hundred of Promobot robots operate in 26 countries around the world. They work as consultants, concierges, guides and administrators. At CES, Promobots will meet attendees at the Promobot booth, where it will give dance performances every hour.