Kyle Shanahan took one more step toward resuming his normal duties as 49ers head coach Saturday, holding his first news conference since suffering a severe concussion in a car crash last month and revealed new details about the circumstances leading up to the wreck.
Shanahan, already deemed to be at fault for the July 14 collision between his black Tesla and a blue Mercedes in Palo Alto, said he had been using the electric car’s autopilot function at the time of the crash.
“I’ve had autopilot for nine years, so I’m pretty comfortable with it. Who knows what happened when I turned around, whether it malfunctioned or I knocked it off? That’s something I don’t know yet,” Shanahan said. “But regardless, it is always your fault, whether you’re on autopilot or not — take your eyes off the road, it’s a partnership, driving, you don’t just turn it over to a computer.
“It’s a good lesson on 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.”
Autopilot, per Tesla, is a “hands-on driver assistance system that is intended to be used only with a fully attentive driver.” The Niners coach already revealed that he had taken his eyes off the road to pick up his cellphone and on Saturday expanded, adding that he had to reach all the way into the back seat of the car and that he “fully [took] my eyes off the road.”
The crash left Shanahan with broken ribs, a laceration on his face that required 40 stitches, a broken nose and a broken hand, in addition to the concussion, according to ESPN.
The concussion has limited Shanahan in practice and put his status in doubt heading into the 49ers’ season, but he confirmed that he would be on the sidelines Thursday when they host the Tennessee Titans at Levi’s Stadium for their preseason opener.
Besides an impromptu session in his office with a small group of reporters to clarify that the accident was his fault, Shanahan hadn’t taken questions since training camp began. But he said he has still been able to do the “most important parts” of his job “from Day 1” — grinding film and watching practice.
“I’m doing the same stuff,” he said. “I try not to come in [to the podium] every single day because I feel like if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to pull off my normal routine — which is watching hours and hours of tape, getting through the walk-through at night, getting to watch stuff after that. Eventually I will get there.
“I would have told you I was there seven days ago and they were like, ‘Chill, wait to see how you feel tomorrow. And I’d wake up and I’m glad I didn’t say that. Because sometimes it’s a good day and sometimes the next day is a little bit harder.
“But as far as the stuff that I think is the most important parts of my job, I’ve been doing that since Day 1.”
While Shanahan said the incident made him “feel pretty stupid … I didn’t sit there and have a ton of guilt over it or anything.” He compared it to getting a ticket — “Things that, I think, everyone’s done, to a degree, what I’ve done.”
“Dropping a phone, falling all the way to my back seat, fully take my eyes off the road. It’s something that I normally wouldn’t do,” Shanahan said. “… I think the word’s an accident, and it truly was that way. But you realize how quick and close that stuff can happen.
“When you’re going at 20 miles an hour, you’re not really — and you’re on autopilot — honestly, I have zero worries, I have so much trust in that stuff. That was a good lesson that you can’t ever have zero worries. But I think it definitely could be an example for a lot of people.”
This story will be updated.
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