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Tesla driver using Autopilot feature killed by tractor trailer
Fox News ^ | June 30,2016

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 ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: autopilot; canton; florida; frankbaressi; joshuadbrown; navyseal; ohio; tesla; teslamotors; williston
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To: lacrew
from your link:

"When the truck made a left turn onto NE 140th Court in front of the car, the car’s roof struck the underside of the trailer as it passed under the trailer. The car continued to travel east on U.S. 27A until it left the roadway on the south shoulder and struck a fence. The car smashed through two fences and struck a power pole. The car rotated counter-clockwise while sliding to its final resting place about 100 feet south of the highway. Brown died at the scene.”"

So the car kept on driving without the driver controlling it? Although the article does not state it, I'm assuming the driver was killed when the windshield hit the trailer.

Will the Tesla be known as a hit & run car?

61 posted on 06/30/2016 10:01:58 PM PDT by 1_Rain_Drop
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To: 1_Rain_Drop

“So the car kept on driving without the driver controlling it? Although the article does not state it, I’m assuming the driver was killed when the windshield hit the trailer.”

It is known as Newton’s First Law of Motion. Objects in motion tend to remain in motion.

If the car was going fast, it will take a while for it to come to rest.

As was pointed out, the data is there and we will know how fast shortly.


62 posted on 07/01/2016 2:13:46 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: lacrew; All

“Blame is going to come down to how fast the Tesla was going...the truck driver can only see as far as line of sight will allow him.”

Here is the opening paragraph from Tesla:

“We learned yesterday evening that NHTSA is opening a preliminary evaluation into the performance of Autopilot during a recent fatal crash that occurred in a Model S. This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated. Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles. Worldwide, there is a fatality approximately every 60 million miles. It is important to emphasize that the NHTSA action is simply a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the system worked according to expectations.”


63 posted on 07/01/2016 2:22:06 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: az_gila

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNyXYPhnUIs


64 posted on 07/01/2016 3:54:42 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: marktwain

LOL @ me

I forgot about that Law of Motion and focused only on the autopilot aspect of the car.


65 posted on 07/01/2016 6:32:43 AM PDT by 1_Rain_Drop
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To: Hojczyk
Tesla driver using Autopilot feature killed by tractor trailer

This Tesla driver was not killed by a Tractor Trailer.

This Tesla driver was killed by his Tesla.

Any reasonably competent driver is going to be able to see a truck across the road and come to a safe stop.

The car's camera did not see the truck because of the lack of contrast, and the car's radar is programmed to ignore large flat objects across the road so it will not brake every time it goes under a highway sign.

The car made a mistake that a human driver would not make in a Million years.

You can say whatever you like about overall accident rates and reducing the number of fatalities across broad swaths of population, but this particular former Navy Seal would still be alive if he had been in control of his own car.

66 posted on 07/01/2016 11:50:08 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (New York Senator Kristin Gillibrand will be the next President of the United States)
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To: JoeProBono
He should have just pointed his wand at the tractor trailer and yelled "EVANESCO!""
67 posted on 07/01/2016 11:58:08 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (New York Senator Kristin Gillibrand will be the next President of the United States)
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To: Haiku Guy

68 posted on 07/01/2016 12:37:44 PM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: Hojczyk

Or it just might not have had enough time to stop and avoid the truck making an illegal maneuver. Even automated cars must obey the laws of physics.


69 posted on 07/01/2016 12:40:53 PM PDT by discostu (Joan Crawford has risen from the grave)
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To: Noamie

You’ve never seen people do that? Especially when the rig made an illegal left in front of them? Really?


70 posted on 07/01/2016 12:43:18 PM PDT by discostu (Joan Crawford has risen from the grave)
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To: 1_Rain_Drop

Yup, cars can do that if enough of them gets clearance. Even your non-fancy cars. Got cruise control? You know what would happen if you had that set then something took the top off the car but left the bottom able to function? You’d keep going. Cars don’t have dead man switches.


71 posted on 07/01/2016 12:48:02 PM PDT by discostu (Joan Crawford has risen from the grave)
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To: Hojczyk
"Self"-driving cars...



endless "opportunities".
72 posted on 07/01/2016 12:58:00 PM PDT by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: marktwain

Maybe America is different, but in Oz if the vehicle ahead is signalling a (right turn for us), the following vehicle is not supposed to overtake.


73 posted on 07/01/2016 8:23:24 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools - Solon, Lawmaker of Athens)
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To: Oztrich Boy

Yes, it is different here. Here the overtaking vehicle in the fast lane has the right of way.


74 posted on 07/01/2016 8:30:25 PM PDT by marktwain
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