Posted on 06/30/2016 6:32:42 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Joshua D. Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio, died in the accident May 7 in Williston, Florida, when his car's cameras failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and didn't automatically activate its brakes, according to government records obtained Thursday.
Frank Baressi, 62, the driver of the truck and owner of Okemah Express LLC, said the Tesla driver was "playing Harry Potter on the TV screen" at the time of the crash and driving so quickly that "he went so fast through my trailer I didn't see him."
"It was still playing when he died and snapped a telephone pole a quarter mile down the road," Baressi told The Associated Press in an interview from his home in Palm Harbor, Florida. It was not immediately clear whether Tesla's systems would allow a movie to play while the car was being driven and there were no references to the movie in initial police reports.
Brown's published obituary described him as a member of the Navy SEALs for 11 years and founder of Nexu Innovations Inc., working on wireless Internet networks and camera systems. In Washington, the Pentagon confirmed Brown's work with the SEALs and said he left the service in 2008.
Brown was an enthusiastic booster of his 2015 Tesla Model S and in April credited its sophisticated Autopilot system for avoiding a crash when a commercial truck swerved into his lane on an interstate. He published a video of the incident online. "Hands down the best car I have ever owned and use it to its full extent," Brown wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Back to the ol’ drawing board...
In the future, all vehicles shall be painted black.
Calling it an Autopilot system is a bad idea. It is not an autopilot in any way, shape, or form.
Driver assist, maybe, but not autopilot.
Countdown to family member wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla starting in 3 . . 2 . . 1 . .
Apparently, he was also working on driverless cars.
his car's cameras failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and didn't automatically activate its brakesY'know, I've heard that some people actually use their own physical abilities to operate vehicles.
Deservedly so
The company was clearly negligent in not putting a big warning sticker on the dashboard
“Do not operate motor vehicle while watching Harry Potter movies where wizards can pass through solid objects unless you know the right spell”
Harry Potter kills!
Well THAT was one humongous “cloud.”
Outlaw other traffic.
I hate when that happens. I really hate when that happens to a hard man that protected us in such an unselfish way. RIP Mr. Brown.
Bet he saw a bright light anyway...
I saw a Tesla driver a few months ago try to miss a major intersection in our town and gun it through the gas station lot a friend of mine owns to get back on the highway. I thought...what an @$$hole.
Sounds like the Tractor Trailer violated traffic laws.
“Preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when Baressi’s rig turned left in front of Brown’s Tesla at an intersection of a divided highway where there was no traffic light, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. Brown died at the crash scene, which occurred May 7 in Williston, Florida, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report. The city is southwest of Gainesville.”
Looks like the Tesla had the right of way, and the Tractor Trailer Owner/Driver has every reason to attempt to discredit it.
Hmmmm, i wonder what they want for the wreck
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