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Tesla: Model X Accident Caused By Driver Error, Not Autopilot (computerworld.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Tesla has responded to a recent report from a Model X owner claiming their vehicle suddenly accelerated at "maximum speed" by itself, jumped a curb and slammed into the side of a building while his wife was sitting behind the wheel. They said it analyzed vehicle logs, "which confirm that this Model X was operating correctly under manual control and was never in Autopilot or cruise control at the time of the incident or in the minutes before. Data shows that the vehicle was traveling at 6 mph when the accelerator pedal was abruptly increased to 100%. Consistent with the driver's action, the vehicle applied torque and accelerated as instructed. Safety is the top priority at Tesla and we engineer and build our cars with this foremost in mind. We are pleased that the driver is ok and ask our customers to exercise safe behavior when using our vehicles." When will people stop lying about Tesla's Autopilot mode crashing their cars? One Tesla owner recently filed a Lemon Law claim against the company over a high number of quality control issues.
So Tesla tracks everything to do with your car, people here seem to love them...
Yet bring up Microsoft and Windows 10 and all that tracking and everyone goes all crazy and how "evilz" MS is...
What's up with that?
Majority voting with three systems has turned out to be dangerous on quite a few occasions. At least with two systems disagreeing, you can decide "I don't know which one is right, so I'll do the safe thing". With two out of three giving an incorrect value, it leads to misplaced confidence in this wrong value.
Examples:
- (human): Primary altimeters different between captain and F/O, standby altimeter agrees with captain, but F/O altimeter was correct. Don't remember the flight number or even the company, but they crashed into a mountain. If they hadn't had the standby altimeter, they would have gone with the lowest of the two indications until they could intercept a glide slope somewhere.
- (automatic): The A320 has independent Angle Of Attack probes, but if you climb through heavy icing, it turns out two can freeze up at the same time. The system sees a confirmed stall (even though it should be impossible given the current speed, attitude and inertial measurements) because two systems agreeing can't ever be wrong, and it pushes the nose down. Even if both pilots pull back on the stick, the nose continues to drop. We now have an official procedure to shut off two of the Air Data Reference units, leaving only one remaining. That's the only way of shaking the absolute confidence of the system in two identical but false signals.
Good of you to admit it.
I did it once on a rental car after driving for 12 hours... We were on loose gravel and only created a shower of dust. I caught the mistake instantly, but it was enough for my passenger to take over driving. If it were clean asphalt and I were in a sportscar, it would have been a wreck.
FTA: "She knows the difference between brake and accelerator pedal. " - it's amazing how people attribute it to knowledge and discredit "not knowing" as a question of intelligence. The car was 5 days old, it takes more time than that to become intimately familiar with the car.
The reflex reaction to the car lurching forward when you hit the brake is.... hit the brake harder...
And it's ridiculous that the article is interviewing her husband.
This is a car, not a computer. There are dozens of separate processing units in a modern car. They're not all built into the system that does the logging, as if it could grab whatever data it wants from any of them. Each processing unit is compartmentalized to a specific task. And Tesla, like any other manufacture, does not design all of them.
It's actually rather inefficient from a systems approach, but it's the way things are done in the auto industry, and it's not going to be easy to change that.
Too bad you don't know how cars work. Each module does its own logging, and the accelerator pedal sensor is connected directly to the PCM. They're not all built into the system that does the logging, the logging is built into all of them. When you want powertrain codes, you have to scan both the PCM and TCM in a typical vehicle, and that's not even counting the ABS which also interacts with the traction control.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Probably won't get noticed 150+ comments deep, but...
Perhaps the default configuration for the pedals should be a failsafe mode where the car is always "under control". When you slam the brake, you trend toward 0 MPH. If you slam on the gas, maybe the pedal interprets 100% as 0%, and applies no throttle. If you're accelerating, you should always have control of the accelerator. Flooring it isn't going to give you much more than 95% throttle would, and you could have a tactile bump at the end of the accelerator play that is easy sensed when you feather your foot, but also easily bypassed if you slam the pedal.
Basically, allow people to still gun it, just not outright "drag racing", and prevent unintended acceleration.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
Tesla lost because the judge determined the show was entertainment and not a documentary or news program and had no requirement to be factual.
They lied and faked almost the entire thing.
I did have an issue with an Audi several years ago. My cruise control would periodically turn itself on. They checked the computer, and it was reading occasional faults in the cruise control switch, so they replaced it. The problem continued. Sometimes over bumps, but also sometimes when I would turn on my turn signal. The turn signal and cruise control switches were both stalks on the left side of the column. The dealer read the codes again, and again said the cruise control switch was reporting faults and wanted to change it again. When I protested, and pointed out that it would turn on when I turned on my turn signal, they assumed that I was mistaking the two stalks. (to which point I asked them to investigate why my turn signal was turning on when I activated my cruise control...) It was only after the service manager finally driving it around and being able to duplicate the issue that they believed me. They ultimately replaced the control module in the steering column, which contained both switches, which solved the problem. Not saying that the brakes and gas pedal go into the same control module, but I can certainly see a case where the control module has a fault which is reading the wrong input.
There was a study recently about going on "autopilot" while walking or driving (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-mishaps/201404/the-dangers-going-autopilot) and how people avoided obstacles, but didn't truly notice them. Part of the experiment was to bend a branch to head height and then place dollar bills on it. People avoided the branch, but didn't notice the money even when it was waving right in front of them. They even a large sign announcing that a psychological experiment that explained what was going on place in the middle of a path. When asked shortly afterwards about the obstacles, people didn't remember them. They just avoided them.
People get into a car and automatically behave as if they've been driving that car or road regularly, even a new one. They zone out, react to a normal occurrence and because of their unfamiliarity with the vehicle/road do the wrong thing.
I am Homer of Borg, resistance is - Ooo Donuts!