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Consumer Reports Calls For Tesla To Disable Autopilot (consumerreports.org)
Reader parallel_prankster writes: Consumer Reports is calling on Tesla to disable its "Autopilot" feature that enables hands-free operation. Citing the recent fatal accident involving a car with Autopilot engaged, Consumer Reports labels the feature as "Too Much Autonomy Too Soon." In an extensive article posted at the top of its website Thursday morning, Consumer Reports said Tesla should "disable hands-free operation until its system can be made safer." "By marketing their feature as 'Autopilot,' Tesla gives consumers a false sense of security," said Laura MacCleery, vice president of consumer policy and mobilization for Consumer Reports, in the article. "In the long run, advanced active safety technologies in vehicles could make our roads safer. But today, we're deeply concerned that consumers are being sold a pile of promises about unproven technology. 'Autopilot' can't actually drive the car, yet it allows consumers to have their hands off the steering wheel for minutes at a time. Tesla should disable automatic steering in its cars until it updates the program to verify that the driver's hands are on the wheel."
Tesla says it will continue development of Autopilot, insisting that drivers supported by Autopilot "remain safer than those operating without assistance."
Tesla says it will continue development of Autopilot, insisting that drivers supported by Autopilot "remain safer than those operating without assistance."
No. Autopilot was active during an accident. The truck caused the accident by turning left in front of oncoming traffic. The car had the right of way, and the truck was supposed to wait for the car to clear before continuing. Autopilot failed to prevent the accident, in the same way automatic emergency braking systems offered by other brands may similarly fail to detect an unexpected obstacle and stop.
So do you expect "Automatic Pilot" on Airplanes to mean land/take off, deal with adverse weather, etc ?
I have no expectations at all regarding the meaning of "Automatic Pilot" on airplanes, because I don't operate airplanes. Why would you expect the average person to know what an aircraft autopilot does or does not do?
A man died because Tesla marketed the system as more than what the specs said it could do.
That is a lie. Tesla marketed it as handling the activity of driving for an alert driver who may well have to step in and start driving again
He's dead because of the Elon Musk hype train because the way Musk talked about the feature, he felt comfortable doing this.
His feelings may or may not be legally actionable. That he didn't follow directions, however, is extremely relevant. Tesla won't even turn on the feature without giving the driver a lecture, so he has no excuse for not understanding his responsibilities as a driver.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The freaking manual says to not do what most of these accidents have done.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
If you don't have your hands on the wheel, it will pop up a notice telling you to put your hands on the wheel. If you still don't, it will beep an alert at you. If you still don't, it will gradually slow the car to a stop (it assumes that you are disabled at that point).
And yet all the reviewers and so forth talk about their handsfree driving experience with it.
And Musk has himself said the car will drive from San Fransico to Seattle; almost without touching the controls at all.
You can't have that out there and then expect a reasonable person to think he REALLY has to have his hands on the wheel the whole time, just because the car beeps at him.
Additionally, its unreasonable to put a human being in a situation where they are expected to sit there doing nothing except being perpetually ready to act in case of an exceptional circumstances. Human beings aren't wired for that.
If we're driving and actively engaged, we can keep our attention on the task for long periods of time without much trouble. But we're supposed to just sit there "at the ready" that's a failure waiting to happen, because people don't work like that.
It would be like being told to sit in front of the oven and watch the thanksgiving turkey roast with our hand on the off switch the entire time, ready in case the bird catches fire or something.
We'll check it from time to time, we'll set a timer to help us remember to do that. If we smell smoke or something we'll react ... but no human being can sit there doing nothing, with the expectation of doing nothing, but ready to do something for hours on end. Our attention WILL drift. You can't slap a warning sticker on something and expect it to override human nature.
The feature is fundamentally incompatible with human beings. When its ready to be responsible enough for driving that it can deal with anything that comes up, and if something comes up that it can't do it can pull over and then alert a passenger to take over as driver... then it's ready for people. Until then its just an accident waiting to happen.
Tesla explains the limitations of the system when you buy the car, the car explains it to you again when you activate the feature (requiring you to accept that you understand), tells you again when you turn it on to drive somewhere, and reminds you yet again if you take your hands off the wheel. If some moron can't understand that, what would is a 100 hours of training going to accomplish. Maybe they should put shockers in the seat for additional reinforcement