A second Tesla driver died stopped on a freeway with Autopilot/Self-Driving on

This is Tesla and car news, not a home energy story, but here is what happened. A second Tesla driver has died after their car came to a stop in a live freeway lane and was rear-ended, matching a pattern from a similar fatal crash in Florida weeks earlier. This time it happened on Loop 202 near Mesa, Arizona, just after 3 a.m. on October 31, 2025, when a 2020 Model 3 was struck from behind by a Ford F-350 pickup. The Tesla driver died at the scene, and police reports at the time did not mention Autopilot or "Full Self-Driving," Tesla's driver-assist systems.

Electrek says it matched the crash to a federal safety filing in which Tesla confirmed its driver-assist system was "Verified Engaged" and that the car was stopped at 0 mph in a travel lane in clear weather. Tesla says it holds the car's event-data recorder, telematics, and video, but it redacted the crash narrative, the software version, and whether the road was approved for the system to operate on, calling that information a trade secret.

Both this crash and the earlier Florida one involve the same setup: a 2020 Model 3 with driver-assist engaged, stopped in a freeway lane, then hit from behind. Tesla is already under federal investigation over how it reports crashes involving these systems. This story does not involve home energy programs or rebates.