Posted on 05/16/2019 11:25:30 AM PDT by Yossarian
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's Autopilot feature was engaged during a fatal March 1 crash of a 2018 Model 3 in Delray Beach, Florida, in at least the third fatal U.S. crash reported involving the driver-assistance system, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday.
The NTSB's preliminary report said the driver engaged Autopilot about 10 seconds before crashing into a semitrailer, and the system did not detect the driver's hands on the wheel for fewer than eight seconds before the crash.
The vehicle was traveling at about 68 miles (109 km) per hour (mph) on a highway with a 55-mph (89-kph) speed limit, and neither the system nor the driver made any evasive maneuvers, the agency said.
Tesla said in a statement that soon after the crash it shared information with regulators about the Autopilot status and said after the driver engaged the system he "immediately removed his hands from the wheel. Autopilot had not been used at any other time during that drive."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I keep telling yinz that autonomous vehicles will not survive First Contact with the American tort bar.
It's high time that the liability mix between drivers, autonomous driving system manufacturers, and insurance companies gets ironed out in court.
He should be working on flying cars. The current Tesla products and market have likely peaked for now altho its hard to tell it when I drive around here.. the roads are full of ‘em. And now all the new offerings will be out there.
Nothing like hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. You are the driver. Not a program or a switch like the 737MAX from a bad event.
Sounds like suicide by Tesla to me.
Tesla and Boeing need to compare notes.
I’ve driven a Toyota Camry with that kind of feature. It doesn’t make it a self driving car. It will sense cars in front of you and slow down, but it won’t reliably keep you in a lane. And on curves, fuggetaboutit. And if you are bombing along at 60 and come up to something standing still, you are gonna plow into it.
These are not self driving cars in any way, shape or form. They fake it.
Autopilot works in well in planes (insert 737 Max joke here) because you’re not traveling in close proximity of other vehicles making abrupt maneuvers. Maybe AI will someday get advanced enough so that it can eliminate fatalities, but expect a lot of lawsuits when and until that happens.
Should be renamed to AutoCrash.
a person whose brain is already on autopilot allowed to acquire a vehicle with an autopilot feature is a deadly combination
What gets me is that just a month ago, Tesla was hyping that they have fully self-driving car technology about to hit the market.
In the meantime, there are all these highly publicized crashes with what they ALREADY hyped.
Now Tesla needs to keep their stock price up because they desperately need new cash. Expect a new Elon Musk Flim-Flam Dog & Pony show soon!
Frankly, I don’t even like the Toyota autopilot feature. It’s like having your passenger constantly grabbing the wheel.
“Uh, I don’t need to pay attention”.
Attention: spill on aisle 4...
Spill on aisle number 4....
Thank you.....
Ping.
I wonder if the driver put the car into autopilot mode to respond to a text message. Whatever he was doing, it was a major distraction.
Most car’s have that feature now, but it is in no way similar to Tesla’s feature.
With Toyota you can turn off the steering wheel mover and just make the noise. I hate the wheel mover with a passion.
The preliminary NTSB report is here:
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HWY19FH008-preliminary.pdf
The truck pulled out in front of the Tesla. The Tesla had the right of way. Normally, people would place the blame on the truck.
The Tesla was going 68 in a 55 zone. The speed is set by the driver, not the autopilot.
The driver is supposed to keep his hands on the wheel and remain alert when the autopilot is on. The driver did not have his hands on the wheel.
Heh....yinz...
Cheers!
KYPD
I’ve driven a Toyota Camry with that kind of feature.
The lane assist actually steers around curves on the highway. First time it did it I felt the wheel pulling left. Thought I had a problem with the steering. The system counts on the lane markers on the road. When it started raining, the car let me know that lane assist was no longer working. Makes me believe that autonomous cars are not that far off. That said, I keep my hands on the wheel.
Regardless of the Tesla speeding, the autopilot system could not determine what was going to happen 10 seconds after being enabled.
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