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."

Comments

Stop calling it "Autopilot"

[Anonymous Coward]

Tesla marketing department needs a better term -- "Autopilot" implies something that the car is incapable of. Just call it "cruise control" and shield themselves from liability.

Re:The summary is false.

[Rei]

That's exactly what I was thinking. I can't find any evidence that there has been a second fatality.

And really, have only three Tesla vehicles period crashed, period, while on autopilot in 130m miles? If so, that's bloody impressive. More impressive than just a statistic of 1 fatality in 130m miles.

Duke Nukem Forever Young

[PopeRatzo]

Because I like you guys, I'm gonna do you a solid and save you all kinds of tsuris later on. There will not be self-driving cars in any of our lifetimes. Yes, we will have something like super cruise control and driver assist, but no, you will never be able to call for your robot Uber to pick you up and drive you to your part-time job. It's just not going to happen. And finally, the people who know most about "driverless" cars are starting to come clean:

The most realistic industry projection about the arrival of autonomous driving comes from the company that’s done the most to make it possible. Google, while never explicitly saying so, has long intimated that self-driving cars would be available by the end of the decade.

In February, though, a Google car caused its first accident; a bus collision with no injuries. A few weeks later, Google made a significant, if little-noted, schedule adjustment. Chris Urmson, the project director, said in a presentation that the fully featured, truly go-anywhere self-driving car that Google has promised might not be available for 30 years, though other much less capable models might arrive sooner.

Historians of technology know that “in 30 years” often ends up being “never.” Even if that’s not the case here, if you’re expecting a self-driving car, you should also expect a wait. And so you might want to do something to pass the time. Maybe go for a nice drive?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07...

Yes, you read that right. The project director for "self-driving cars" at Google just added 25 more years to his projection on when you're going to see them. And as the writer points out, most of us know that any tech prediction for 30 years down the road always ends in tears. If you go back 30 years, they were predicting tech that never showed up and mostly totally missed on the most important tech advances that did show up.

Now I don't have a particular interest one way or the other regarding self-driving cars, except this: I don't want to see one dollar in public funds spent to develop this technology or to create infrastructure for a self-driving fleet until we've made actual public transportation affordable and viable, the way it was early to middle last century before Standard Oil and GM conspired to destroy public transportation in the United States (and yes, they were even convicted of doing so in court). So go ahead, Google and Elon and Tim Cook and all the visionaries. Make your self-driving golf carts all you want. Just don't ask for a dollar of taxpayer money, especially not until you start paying your taxes.

http://www.whale.to/b/street_c...

http://www.baycrossings.com/Ar...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Back Seat Driver?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or maybe co-pilot to make clear the driver is the captain of the car?

Re:Three crashes in a month

[OzPeter]

yep screwed .. that should have been 3000 per month

Re:The summary is false.

[fluffernutter]

Considering Autopilot only activates on the safest sections of road, three crashes in a month is pretty damn bad.

Re:Three crashes in a month

[gweihir]

My guess is some people in the media have either bought put-options or want to buy Tesla stock cheap. There is no rationality to their reporting.

1909

[Anonymous Coward]

In other news today, another model T, the worlds first assembly line manufactured car, broke out into flames today, being the 5th such incident this year many predict the ford motor company will not survive the winter as any reasonable investor would bail from the company, undoubtedly the use of mass manufacturing will be the end of ford.

Re:Tesla is a sinking ship

[Anonymous Coward]

How many Toyotas crashed this week? What about Hondas? Fords?

This is a non-story. Cars crash, whether they're under semi-autonomous controls or not, because *not every* car is under autonomous control. The media is the problem.