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US Regulators Investigating Tesla Over Use of 'Autopilot' Mode Linked To Fatal Crash (cnbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday it is opening a preliminary investigation into 25,000 Tesla Motors Model S cars after a fatal crash involving a vehicle using the "Autopilot" mode. The agency said the crash came in a 2015 Model S operating with automated driving systems engaged, and "calls for an examination of the design and performance of any driving aids in use at the time of the crash." It is the first step before the agency could seek to order a recall if it believed the vehicles were unsafe. Tesla said Thursday the death was "the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated," while a fatality happens once every 60 million miles worldwide. The electric automaker said it "informed NHTSA about the incident immediately after it occurred." The May crash occurred when a tractor trailer drove across a divided highway, where a Tesla in autopilot mode was driving. The Model S passed under the tractor trailer, and the bottom of the trailer hit the Tesla vehicle's windshield. Tesla quietly settled a lawsuit with a Model X owner who claims his car's doors would open and close unpredictably, smashing into his wife and other cars, and that the Model X's Auto-Pilot feature poses a danger in the rain.
It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Luckily for Tesla this sounds like it couldn't have been avoided in any way.
There will be more... but, like Tesla says, their Auto-pilot system has thus far proven VERY safe. What remains to be seen is how the world reconciles the fact that there will always be outliers...
That's still pretty impressive if it's twice as safe as letting a human drive.
Even more so after seeing all the videos on youtube with people in the back of the car letting tesla drive.
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"the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated," while a fatality happens once every 60 million miles worldwide. Autopilot is only allowed on highways, whereas I am sure they are comparing 60 million miles against normal driving which is inherently more dangerous than all cars heading in the same direction with barriers between the traffic flow. Apples and Oranges.
And some of you want us all to get into a so-called 'self driving car' with no manual controls that would at least give you a chance to save yourself. I'll just keep driving myself the old-fashioned way, thanks anyway, because I want to live. Ask me again in 50 years. I'll still say 'Hell, NO!', but at least then you'll have decades of data instead of a measly few years' worth.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
According to the article this was not something the driver could see and avoid, and while the autopilot could not see it either, based on the data from this crash it *could* see it the next time. Drivers learn from their own experience and fatal crashes terminate their learning experience, while autopilots learn from ALL autopilots on the road, and there are no "fatalities".
Of course it is always the fault of humans in the end, in this case the tractor trailer was not supposed to be there, so we'll only have perfect records when we get rid of all the drivers and have all the cars on autopilot.
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"Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied," Tesla wrote.
The driver likely didn't notice because he wasn't paying attention. That is something drivers can see when driving. You can see the front of the truck cross in front of you, you understand the sky doesn't suddenly shift colors, you understand previously seen road doesn't suddenly turn into sky, and if all that escapes you you can still see the truck wheels along the road. The car probably saw them too and figured it would fit between them. Why didn't the radar see the truck? Too angled towards the road?
None of the articles mention who died. Did the driver die? If so, how do we know he didn't notice the truck? Did a ghost tell us? If someone else, then we can't trust the driver isn't trying to cover his ass. No one gets into accidents on purpose unless you're making YouTube videos.
Autopilot still has a far better safety record than human drivers.
There is insufficient data to take that claim seriously at this point. Autopilot features are promising but need a LOT more miles in real world conditions before it is safe to make generalizations like that. I know a lot of people have high hopes for autopilot (myself included) but let's not let our expectations get in the way of scientific evidence.
One thing I do feel comfortable stating is that more people are going to die before autopilot features become truly safe. There are lots of corner cases that we're going to have a hard time predicting and we'll only learn about after some accidents occur. This is the case with any new transportation technology. Airlines are very safe these days but early on they were significantly less so because there were problems we didn't know about yet. Airline windows are rounded because we learned the hard way about stress fractures from sharp cornered windows which wasn't obvious at the time. People had to die to learn that lesson. This won't be the last time someone dies making autopilot safe.