San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan: "That's always your fault, whether you're on autopilot or not. You can't take your eyes off the road. (Driving) is a partnership." Jeff Chiu / Associated PressAug. 8, 2026 Updated 7:03 pm EDTSANTA CLARA, Calif. — Kyle Shanahan said Saturday he thought his Tesla was in autopilot mode when he veered into oncoming traffic on June 14, causing a crash that left the 49ers coach with broken bones and a lingering concussion.In his first podium appearance since the collision, Shanahan said the autopilot function apparently went off when he tried to retrieve a fallen cell phone while traveling south on Alma Avenue in Palo Alto. The coach said he’s been using autopilot in some form for nine years.“So I’m pretty comfortable with it and, you know, who knows what happened when I turned around — whether it malfunctioned or whether I knocked it off?” he said. “That’s something I don’t know yet.”
“But regardless, that’s always your fault, whether you’re on autopilot or not,” he continued. “You can’t take your eyes off the road. (Driving) is a partnership. You don’t just turn it over to a computer. And it’s a good lesson, no matter how comfortable I am with that, that I believe someday could save my life or someone else’s. It’s really helped me have perspective on that stuff.”
