This Tesla Autopilot Crash Shows Why You Still Have To Pay Attention In Semi-Autonomous Cars
Semi autonomous cars are not perfect. Classified as Level 2 Autonomy, they’re a stepping stone to a future which - whether we like it or not - may not require a driver at all. But for now with semi-autonomous systems like Tesla’s Autopilot and Volvo’s Pilot Assist, the squishy bit behind the wheel is still very much needed. Case in point? The accident in the video above, which happened near Dallas, Texas recently.
The driver posted pictures of the aftermath up on Reddit, explaining that his car had hit a barrier while his Model S 70D was running on Autopilot. Coincidentally, another Reddit user browsing the thread had a link to some dashcam footage taken from the car behind, which showed the full nature of the crash.
What it seems the original poster hadn’t mentioned initially is that he traveling through roadworks at the time, and that the accident happened where a concrete barrier cut across the lane, arguably too suddenly and without enough warning. It’s unfortunate that the Tesla’s front collision warning system didn’t react to the barrier, but at the same time, you can see why Autopilot assumed it needed to keep on going straight, given the road markings.
Crucially, had the driver been as alert as you’re supposed to be when behind the wheel of a semi-autonomous car - and as alert as Tesla itself tells you to be - he’d have been able to avoid it himself. As a silver lining, the driver at least escaped serious injury.
Source: Reddit via Electrek
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Stop hating on the car. The driver wasn’t paying attention. Some of it is down to marketing - Tesla is not an autonomous car, by any stretch of the word. Volvo have done the right thing by calling theirs “Pilot Assist”. How many volvo’s have you seen smashing into barriers or parked cars?
Bottomline is: people are idiots to depend on technology
That’s because if a Volvo hit a concrete barrier it would just smash through the barrier and keep going…
the thing is the auto pilot by definition never was a fully automated thing, even on planes, only in 90’s planes autopilots started to be super smart until there they just kept the plane at some speed, height and direction and we have documented cases of crashes due to over use of auto pilot in 70’s/80’s…
I agree. And looking at the situation, it looked like there were roadworks going on, something autopilot wouldn’t recognise.
Wats the point of having an “auto pilot” if you still have to pay attention to the the road? Just drive like a normal person, or take the bus if you don’t wanna drive.
less body fatigue in long journeys…
lets even look at the name in itsself, in a plane do you think autopilot, allows the pilot to leave the cabin and sleep or whatever..or just relax and be ready to take action in the event of a failure?
secondly its a name..autopilot…its a name for advertisement, its just a smarter cruise control..would you set your cruise control then take a nap?
autonomous car is already invented in 1899, they called taxi
The issue isn’t autonomous systems, but the drivers who think said systems are a replacement for common sense. You still need to keep your eyes on the road.
Exactly.
We really can’t have fully autonomous cars until we build all roads to work with the cars
They’re called railways
It just keeps going like nothing happened…
haha it was following the lane but the lane ended because of that barrier hahahaha
IKR
Humans are and always will be better than computers
Yeah! Like I actually said before, humans drive cars, not computers. Besides, why autonomous? There are taxi’s and buses. Plus, think about us petrolheads You damn Tesla.
I’ve had a short training class from Mobileye, the company that makes the camera technology for Tesla’s autopilot, and I asked about this exact scenario. The answer was basically that it will “do it’s best”. now I have my answer.
it’s a video of a video