Tesla Avoids Recall After Autopilot Crash Death

[Megalith]

It sounds like Musk and Tesla is out of the hot seat, as the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has failed to find an actual defect in the Model S, which got plenty of (negative) press after the Autopilot function allegedly resulted in the death of a driver. While the system is now considered to have performed “as designed,” you can be sure that Musk is refining its sequel to the extent that these accidents don’t happen again. Here’s a picture of a 778-hp Tesla Model S Electric GT racer that does 0 to 62 mph in 2.1 seconds, just because.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its investigation after it found no evidence of a defect in the vehicles. Joshua Brown was killed when his car collided with a lorry while operating in Autopilot mode. Tesla has stated Autopilot is only designed to assist drivers, who must keep their hands on the wheel. The feature is intended to be used on the motorway, where is lets cars automatically change lanes and react to traffic. Following the fatal crash, Tesla said it appeared that the Model S car was unable to recognise "the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky" that had driven across the car's path. The company's chief executive Elon Musk described Mr Brown's death as a "tragic loss".

 

[EODetroit]

Bought SCTY when the arbitrage was ridiculous, now a few months later SCTY has been bought by TSLA despite naysayers and stock is hitting 8 month highs. I'm up 30-40% atm. On TSLA, negative news is just another buying opportunity because to date its always been overblown. If the Model 3 has significant delays officially announced (not just the baseless speculation type we have now), comes with significantly fewer features, or is significantly higher priced, then that'll be the time to get out, before waiting for another valley to get back in.

 

[otherweeb]

It's 'cruise control'. Stop calling it autopilot ffs! Problem solved.

 

[thejokker]

Musk's Folly...

 

[XenIneX]

It's 'cruise control'. Stop calling it autopilot ffs! Problem solved.

Why? It's far more technologically capable than aeronautical autopilot, and is comparably hands-off. It's not Tesla's fault that people have some weird misconception that "autopilot" means "happy-hour at 30,000 feet", rather than "barely more than three-dimensional cruise-control".

 

[Wierdo]

It's more than just that, the NHTSA praised the system, providing solid numbers from their testing:

After analyzing mileage and airbag deployment data for Model S and Model X cars equipped with Autopilot, the NHTSA concluded that “the Tesla vehicles' crash rate dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer installation.”

The NHTSA also gives some interesting insight into the fatal crash itself. “The driver took no braking, steering, or other actions to avoid the collision,” the report notes, adding that his last recorded action was setting cruise control to 74mph. “NHTSA’s crash reconstruction indicates that the tractor trailer should have been visible to the Tesla driver for at least seven seconds prior to impact.”

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/01...egulators-conclude-theres-no-need-for-recall/

40 percent safer than without, that's a huge gain.

 

[Grahamkracka]

Why? It's far more technologically capable than aeronautical autopilot, and is comparably hands-off. It's not Tesla's fault that people have some weird misconception that "autopilot" means "happy-hour at 30,000 feet", rather than "barely more than three-dimensional cruise-control".

Modern autopilots can autonomously land airliners in adverse weather conditions, whereas Tesla autopilot may not actually be available in inclement weather. It's a poor comparison though neither are actually designed to mean hands off.

 

[otherweeb]

Why? It's far more technologically capable than aeronautical autopilot, and is comparably hands-off. It's not Tesla's fault that people have some weird misconception that "autopilot" means "happy-hour at 30,000 feet", rather than "barely more than three-dimensional cruise-control".

It's absolutely Tesla's fault. They branded it with a name they know would be misconstrued beyond the actual capabilities. Pilot's receive extensive training, drivers are noobs.

 

[M76]

It's absolutely Tesla's fault. They branded it with a name they know would be misconstrued beyond the actual capabilities. Pilot's receive extensive training, drivers are noobs.

 

[Wierdo]

Modern autopilots can autonomously land airliners in adverse weather conditions, whereas Tesla autopilot may not actually be available in inclement weather. It's a poor comparison though neither are actually designed to mean hands off.

So all the years prior those planes were promoting the feature falsely? I mean why all the hassle about automation levels 1 to 5 if only level 5 cuts it, what was Boeing thinking, risking 500 lives right?

It's absolutely Tesla's fault. They branded it with a name they know would be misconstrued beyond the actual capabilities. Pilot's receive extensive training, drivers are noobs.

Tesla owners go through required autopilot training at purchase, beyond that you can't really save people from themselves, the guy was watching a Disney movie during the seven seconds window he had to react.

You're trained to keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, not very complicated.

 

[Semantics]

It's absolutely Tesla's fault. They branded it with a name they know would be misconstrued beyond the actual capabilities. Pilot's receive extensive training, drivers are noobs.

Lol but then the state would have to admit that we hand driver licenses to just about anyone who can almost drive.

 

[Wiffle]

People have been doing crap like this before even with "cruise" control. Seem to remember watching one of those real tv shows where they were showcasing terrible drivers. Guy puts his RV on cruise control, gets up to go make a sandwhich, then gets tossed all around the RV because it went off the side of the road and rolled a couple times.

The Air Bag Control modules in modern cars can basically be considered a black box. It records up to the last 10 seconds of PID data in the event of a crash. Anyone who looks at that data can then determine what the driver was doing before the collision occurred. The driver did nothing to prevent the collison, not to mention he set the cruise control at 74... Florida speed limit is 70 for an interstate highway.

Here is the biggest kicker of them all, this wasn't the first time it happened to this guy:


He put complete faith into a system that he was told was there to assist your driving, not completely take over. He probably assumed the car was going to avoid the truck like it did last time. Except it didn't. He was trained, and warned of the capabilities of the system. Its on him at this point.

Edit: Notice the Speed Limit 60 at 15 seconds mark