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Third Tesla Crashes Amid Report of SEC Investigation (usatoday.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Tesla hasn't had the best month so far as not one, not two, but a total of three crashes have been reported with the car's Autopilot self-driving system engaged at the time -- two of which resulted in fatalities. In addition, The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Tesla violated securities law by failing to disclose more quickly a fatal accident in Florida in May involving a Tesla Model S that was in self-driving mode. The SEC didn't comment on the report, and Tesla issued a statement saying it has "not received any communication from the SEC regarding this issue." As for the Autopilot crash that was reported today, the driver said he activated Autopilot mode at the beginning of his trip. Tesla is looking into the crash and has yet to confirm whether or not Autopilot was a factor. Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased a "Top Secret Tesla Masterplan, Part 2" via Twitter that he is "Hoping to publish later this week."
Tesla hasn't had the best month so far as not one, not two, but a total of three crashes have been reported with the car's Autopilot self-driving system engaged at the time -- two of which resulted in fatalities.
The article about the most recent crash contradicts the summary poster's statement that two of the crashes resulted in fatalities. Only one of the crashes has resulted in fatalities.
3000 people per day who die in car accidents just in the USA alone
So your claim is over one million car deaths per year in the USA? I have to call [citation needed] on that.
Because in 2014, USA deaths in cars, motor cycles, bicycles, and pedestrians all together were 32675.
Others have a substantially similar thing. They call it cruise control. Subaru calls theirs "Eyesight" but Toyota calls theirs "cruise control with lane keeping assist". Honda called theirs "lane keeping assist" as well.
In general, they are adding modifiers to cruise control, and Subaru was the only other one I saw in a quick search that used a completely new name.
Learn to love Alaska
Tesla hasn't had the best month so far as not one, not two, but a total of three crashes have been reported with the car's Autopilot self-driving system engaged at the time -- two of which resulted in fatalities
The first one was the guy watching the DVD who went under the truck. Or at least, all of him below the neck did. Fatality!
The second one was in Michigan, and the driver "survived a rollover crash."
This is the third one, and "the driver said he activated Autopilot mode at the beginning of his trip."
That's one fatality, Subby. These are your own links and summary. We expect you to read them, even if none of the posters or editors here do.
The name.
Autopilot does exactly what I at least personally think of it. The term "autopilot", as the majority has come acquainted with it, originates from the areoplane industry. It's engaged when the plane is at cruising altitude and it keeps the preprogrammed trajectory and maintains a steady speed and altitude. I don't think anybody sane today thinks planes can (or would be allowed to) land themselves with an autopilot. A plane that could do such would not have an autopilot, but rather a self-flying feature and be a self-flying plane.
A car that can drive without the hands-on requirement is a self-driving car, not a car with an autopilot or "enhanced cruise control". Many are, in fact, comparing autopilots to cruise controls and demand they be called such, but that's not entirely true either. A cruise control, as defined, does not usullay do nothing more than keep the speed constant by self-adjusting the amount of power the engine produces. An autopilot does that *and* keeps the trajectory. So the levels of automated control progress from cruise control to autopilot and the most advanced form is self-driving.
The point of an autopilot is to let the driver observe their surroundings and intervene if they spot danger, not let the autopilot spot danger and act on it. Having an autopilot on on an extended drive helps the driver by putting less stress on them and by keeping them observant. If you drive tired and fall a sleep with your autopilot on, that's a human error, but even then the autopilot might save your or someone else's life. If you drive recklessly using autopilot, that's a human error too.
People are using it wrong intentionally and they, and some in the media, are trying to blame the company for it. If you need car analogies to explain stupid people how a feature in a car works, the problem is not in the car.
A dividend means a company has run out of ideas, and can think of nothing better to do with capital than return it to investors.
That's one interpretation but in reality it's more nuanced than that. Companies have basically 4 things they can do with excess free cash flow. They can reinvest in the company, they can buy another company or asset, they can repurchase stock or they can pay a dividend. Paying a dividend does not necessarily mean the company lacks ideas. It can mean that the shareholders simply prefer to use the excess cash that way. Repurchasing stock for example reduces the supply of stock an in theory can push the stock price up but since stock prices are decoupled from actual earnings it's a bit of a gamble. So is buying another company. Some companies are in slow growth industries and nobody would buy the stock if it didn't pay a dividend. Utilities are a good example of this. Dividends also can be used as a management tool. There is a ton of evidence showing that management teams with too much cash available to them tend to get lazy and sloppy. They make dumb acquisitions, engage in empire building, buy unnecessary assets, etc. Companies tend to perform better when cash is tighter (up to a point).
So no, paying a dividend does not necessarily mean the company has run out of ideas.
I can sell the stock, take the money to the store and use it to buy groceries. That is real enough for me.
You can do that but you are familiar with the parable of killing the goose that laid the golden egg? There is an opportunity cost to selling a stock. You forego any future benefits of an ownership stake in the company. That's not necessarily a bad thing but with a dividend you get cash out of the company without the opportunity cost of losing your ownership stake in the company.
Funny thing, Autopilot is what this is.
You may have the idea that "Autopilot" means the plane flies itself. Nope. Typically autopilot on the plane means it will fly straight and level until ordered otherwise. The autopilot on a plane absolutely will fly straight into another plane even, the human pilot is expected to take care of that sort of thing.
Um, modern plane auto pilots can, and regularly do, take-off and land without assistance.
No, not really. Or, to quote Yes Minister, yes and no. That feature is called autoland and it requires active instrumental help from the runway, too. The final decision (as in taking manual control) on most assisted autopilot landings are still made by the pilots after the plane has brought itself to a certain altitude.
I hope I didn't use too much cursive there.