Man Blames Tesla Autopilot System For Rollover Crash, Then Recants (autoguide.com)

According to AutoGuide, the driver of a Tesla is blaming the Autopilot system for a recent crash in Minnesota. "58-year old David Clark was approaching an intersection when he turned the Autopilot system on, causing the car to accelerate suddenly and veer off the road," reports AutoGuide. "The vehicle ended up on its roof in a marsh with all five occupants sustaining minor injuries." From the report: Tesla's Autopilot function is considered an SAE Level 2 autonomous system, meaning the car will accelerate and steer on its own, but the driver is expected to remain alert and intervene if necessary. In an emailed statement to Electrek, Tesla said it has yet to establish whether or not the Autopilot function was actually turned on at the time of the accident. The company also noted it is still the driver's responsibility to ensure the safe operation of the vehicle when Autopilot is engaged. AutoGuide's report was based off the information Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office received and reported. Now, it appears the Tesla driver is claiming the self-driving Autopilot system wasn't responsible for the crash, despite what he initially told investigators. According to ABC News, Clark said he was confused in the moments after the crash. After discussing the crash with his fellow passengers, he now believes that he disengaged Autopilot by stepping on the accelerator before the crash. "I then remember looking up and seeing the sharp left turn which I was accelerating into. I believe we started to make the turn but then felt the car give way and lose its footing like we hit loose gravel," Clark wrote in the email.

Comments

When will Tesla lose the name "Autopilot"?

[mykepredko]

I would think their lawyers (and hopefully marketers) cringe every time they see a story like this. The name "Autopilot" (while great) implies that nothing needs to be done by the driver so any accidents will be the car's fault, basically by definition.

Keep the "Autopilot" registered mark when they have something that works at Level 4 or 5 but for now, call it something like "Lane Keeping Assist" and eliminate the headlines "Driver killed while Tesla Autopilot Active".

Re:When will Tesla lose the name "Autopilot"?

[vought]

People using this feature freak me out when I'm riding my motorcycle into San Francisco. The normal behavior of phone-users is to brake, speed up, slow down, bounce off of the lane markers (Driving by Braille) and generally endanger those of us on two wheels.

Tesla drivers? There they are, tapping away on the fucking phone with their eyes down and the car is gliding along, centered in the lane and steady, station-keeping a safe distance form the car in front of it.

Please, more like this.

As far as people blaming cars for their own stupidity, I'll trust the engineers at Tesla, thanks. Our Audi 5000 didn't take off by itself and neither do Teslas.

Re:When will Tesla lose the name "Autopilot"?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's annoying because I believe it really is as good as an airplane autopilot (flight director) system of today.

It's just that airplane autopilots have vastly easier tasks -- 80% is simply 'head directly to this waypoint at these coordinates and altitude", and another 10-15% is simply follow this heading given by ATC. (There's a bit more to it around rates of turn and rates of altitude change for the more advanced routes, but the point is it's all hard coded ahead of time and almost trivial algorithm wise.)

There's no 'follow the road' - it's merely head directly to a waypoint.
There's no 'keep track of other cars' - in the rare case of another plane in the way, TCAS systems provide the very straightforward "CLIMB" or "DESCEND" instruction. Most of the time, it's still, "head to waypoint" because ATC has avoided the other planes.
There's no avoid pedestrians.
There's no weather implications. Human pilots program the route in around that..
There are no intersections - the closest is "once you hit waypoint x on the route, proceed to waypoint y".
There are no lanes.

The list goes on.

TLDR: Airplanes head directly to point 'x'. if *that* was all a car autopilot had to do, it's borderline trivial (the hardest point is taking account turning radius!).

Re:"The car will tattle on the driver."

[Rei]

Which, IMHO, is a good thing.

If I did nothing wrong, I want my car to exonerate me.
If it was my fault, then I deserve what I have coming.

He said / she said is a terrible system.

Re:"The car will tattle on the driver."

[Herkum01]

Obviously you are not a lawyer, because "he said / she said" is numerous billing hours and courts and works out great for them and the justice system.

Why did he have to "look up"?

[jimtheowl]

"I then remember looking up and seeing the sharp left turn which I was accelerating into."

Look up from where?

At his foot to reassure himself that he was pressing the accelerator, or at at text on his phone?

Nerds have a very low threshold

[Anonymous Coward]

for what they consider to be news that matters.

My dog pooped next to a tesla. Page 2 story.

Re:"The car will tattle on the driver."

[Pascoea]

You've been driving this road for decades, so you know it's a long yellow light.

So you're saying, "I could have safely stopped for the yellow light, but since I know it's a long yellow I decided I could beat it." Along with all of the other "bad stuff" you mention, not driving defensively, poor hand placement, loud music, distracted driving, are all choices you make.

You may have done nothing wrong and couldn't have prevented the accident

Not doing any one of the 5 things you mentioned in your comment may or may not prevent the accident, but which one is going to look better on paper in front of a judge? Your argument is basically, if I get in an accident I don't want my car to tell the judge if I fucked up.