Driver dies while Tesla's AutoPilot engaged

[EmersonHart13]

Both were in the wrong and it's sad. I'm subscribed to this because as Mike has stated partial autonomy is a shit show until the robot overlords get 100% online and this event may decide which route it takes to get there.

 

[sickmint79]

Mike, you're our Tesla expert. What can be done to make the cars even safer?

I know the driver should have been paying attention but is there a way to make the cars safer to the point that attention isn't needed?

don't let anyone drive cars and have them all communicate...

That said, if Tesla's numbers are to be believed, worldwide there is an accident for every 60 million miles of driving and this is the first accident in 130 million miles of Tesla's driving with Autopilot engaged. So the system is quite good. You can't fix stupid though. If people are intentionally using the system for something it was never designed to be then it should be no surprise when they do themselves in. I view this as 100% driver failure.

it that is actually death instead of accident there are some rates here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

 

[twinv6gtp]

Any autonomous function can be dangerous. Heck even cruise control in slippery conditions can cause accidents. Because the reaction time between not being in control and getting control back is too long. Autopilot is even worse because you hands are not in position your feets arent either heck your probably not looking much at the road at all.

If everyone drove a tesla maybr it would be a little safer.

An Autopilot cannot see or predict danger far ahead like a good aggressive defensive driver can.

But most drivers suck so bad the Autopilot is probably superior to most in an highway situation.

 

[P40E]

After the third or fourth crash somebody is going to take tesla to the cleaners. This will be their downfall .

You put autopilot in a car you're asking for trouble.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/another-person-reportedly-died-due-164546140.html

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/another-person-reportedly-died-due-164546140.html

User error. Pay attention to the fucking road.

These arent self driving cars. Its assissted technology not self driving "I can take a nap and rub one out in traffic" technology.

 

[Blownbyyou]

User error. Pay attention to the fucking road.

These arent self driving cars. Its assissted technology not self driving "I can take a nap and rub one out in traffic" technology.

Where do I sign up for that shit!

 

[P40E]

[MENTION=396]Mike K[/MENTION] , if Blownbyyou pays for a full battery charge can he get an assisted hand job ? Think of it as being cost efficient.

 

[Mike K]

User error. Pay attention to the fucking road.

These arent self driving cars. Its assissted technology not self driving "I can take a nap and rub one out in traffic" technology.

This is exactly right. Tesla owners just don't want to hear it. They argue on the forums about Tesla changing the firmware to make it so you have to put your hand on the wheel more often as if Tesla took a feature away from them when it's something they should have been doing all along.

Engage auto-pilot on a curvy mountain road just once and you'll quickly realize it's limitations. If you actually learn how the system works you'll also quickly understand that you don't want it to be in control. It's not an autonomous car.

That said, a lot of this is just media hype. Tesla is like Apple in that any story equals huge page views and so they tend to make up stories where they don't exist. Anyone remember antenna-gate with the iPhone 4? After Apple released the free sleeves to fix the issue did you ever hear about it again? No. Is that because everyone got a super cool sleeve that actually fixed the problem? No, it's because the problem never existed in a practical sense.

You look in the pages of history now and the iPhone 4 is not known as having any better or worse reception than any other iPhone but at the time...

And Tesla is the same way. So far these AP accidents are clear examples of user error. It's no different than blaming radar cruise control for not preventing you from rear ending someone. It's an aid; not a replacement.