Yet Another Tesla Autopilot Crash Has Been Blamed On Driver Error
Another Tesla Autopilot-related crash, another driver found ultimately to blame: that’s the conclusion after a Model S collided with a stationary fire truck last week.
The limitations – and even dangers – of semi-autonomous driving systems have yet again come to the fore after a 28-year-old woman was found to have placed a bit too much trust in the system, which apparently failed to see the massive red truck.
Having tried to pass control of the drive over to the car, the woman is said to have admitted to being busy with her phone just before the accident, in which she sustained a broken ankle despite making a too-little-too-late attempt to retake control.
While Autopilot’s capabilities are impressive, it seems like too many people are treating it as what its over-optimistic name implies. The truth is that the systems simply aren’t good enough yet to allow you to take your eyes off the road, which kind of makes their autonomous capabilities a little pointless. As assistance systems they’re brilliant, but as self-drivers? Hmmm.
Police Sergeant Samuel Winkler from the South Jordan Police Department in Utah said this in a press release:
“As a reminder for drivers of semi-autonomous vehicles, it is the driver’s responsibility to stay alert, drive safely, and be in control of the vehicle at all times.
“Tesla makes it clear that drivers should always watch the road in front of them and be prepared to take corrective actions. Failure to do so can result in serious injury or death. Check with the vehicle’s owner manual to determine if this technology can be used on city streets or not.”
Comments
Always amazed at the safety of cars today. A crash like that and escapes with only a broken ankle! They crumple zone, almost completely saving the cabin of the car.
I can’t belive I’m actualy getting bored of reading theese articles. Jesus Christ.
I don’t understand what’s controversial about the name autopilot. When an airplane is flying on autopilot, it doesn’t maneuver around obstacles. It maintains the plane’s bearing and altitude and makes subtle adjustments. One pilot is awake at all times and they resume manual control in areas of high air traffic. That sounds a lot like what Tesla’s system does. Am I missing something?
Very true, actually. It’s weird how people get so overtrusting in the Autopilot system. Then again, that might be because Tesla calls it a “Full self-driving capability”, when it really just maintains speed and change lanes if you want to. It’s really just a gimmick than something that cars can actually have in the near future.
Sort of like the tide pod challenge.People have lost common sense. Imma go eat some bleac..i mean tide pods
if the car was older maybe it didn’t have as good of systems as the newer ones. Maybe the sensors failed. or it could just be a simple stupid programing error tesla has to get this stuff down if they want these cars going on by their selves
I like it how people nonchalantly pass over the fact she crashed into a firetruck going 60+ and only broke an ankle and CT is like
teSlaS aRe baD oKay,
Almost any other vehicle and that would have been a fatality.
Ok….so?