Texas Tesla driver narrowly avoids disaster when autopilot engages at railroad crossing

PLANO, Texas - A Texas Tesla driver narrowly avoided disaster after he says the vehicle's autopilot accelerated through a lowered railroad crossing gate as a DART train approached.

Joshua Brown said he's more than just lucky to be alive.

What they're saying:

"I feel blessed. Still have a purpose," Brown said.

Brown said he's logged more than 40,000 miles using Tesla's full self-driving feature without any issues.

Then on April 7, Brown was near a railroad crossing in Plano on 18th Street. The bars were down, the lights were flashing, and the DART was coming down the tracks.

He waited. His car didn't.

"About the time I realized I was moving, the bar is right there, like right in front of me," Brown said.

He said he did what most people do and zoned out while he waited for the train to pass.

Then the vehicle then suddenly accelerated without warning on its own. The moment was captured by multiple cameras on the vehicle.

"And I'm looking at the train, like I'm an Army vet. And I'll be honest, I'd rather somebody shoot at me than be looking at a train 100 feet away," Brown said. "I would like to say I wasn't rattled, but it rattled me just a wee little bit, you know."

The barrier snapped and the glass from his windshield filled his car, but Brown was uninjured.

Tesla has Brown's car for repairs and is investigating what happened.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in January the technology was still years away from being "much safer than a human."

A new version of FSD Supervised was released the day after Brown said his incident occurred. The update promises a 20% faster reaction time to increase safety.