Tesla Autopilot Crash - Couldn't Discern White Semi-Truck from Sky
 

Preliminary info is filtering out from the investigation into the death of a driver while using the Autopilot function in his Tesla Model S.

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From the story;

The accident occurred on May 7th, when a tractor-trailer pulled across US Highway 27A in Florida. According to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, performance data from the Model S says it was traveling at 74 mph (119 km/h) at the point of impact, 9 mph (14 km/h) above the 65 mph (105 km/h) posted limit.

In a release put out by Tesla, the company said the combination of a bright sky and white trailer might have made the truck difficult to see, potentially contributing to the accident.

After slamming into the side of the truck, the car rolled around 300 ft (91 m) before hitting a telephone pole. Having broken the pole, it then carried on another 50 ft (15 m) before coming to rest in someone's front yard.

In a statement released in June, Tesla was at pains to mention the fact Autopilot is still a public beta.

WTF? The software couldn't tell a semi truck from the sky?

This will be a free for all for the defense lawyers.

And just wait until the NTSB comes down on Tesla for allowing the car to drive autonomously over the speed limit. Its easy to imagine that legislation will come fairly soon requiring auto driving cars to obey the speed limit.

The whole idea of 'driverless cars' or 'autopilot settings' scares the bejesus out of me. If you don't want to drive, don't buy a car. Save your money and take transit or a cab. It's bad enough we have all these Pokemon morons walking around like possessed zombies, we now have to watch out for driverless cars that can't tell a semi trailer from a clear sky. Just because they think they can make a driverless car doesn't mean they should.

So...
 

..this system is on many different cars on the market, from Fords to Teslas to Mercedes.

The system only works for vehicles moving the same direction as your vehicle that suddenly stops in front of you, or for parked cars that you come upon from behind.

The system does not work for crossing traffic.

The driver was not paying attention, the Tesla actually did not "fail" in any way.

And I am NOT a Tesla fan, but I work in the auto industry and know these systems very well.

Long live my stick-shift, Boxster.

Ultimately, it's up to the human being that is the "driver" to pay attention and take action to avoid a crash. Just like on an airliner, the pilot has to always be ready to take over if there is an issue with the autopilot.

I pin the responsibility on the driver.

This lends further proof to highly documented scientific theory:

"Trying to make something fool-proof highly underestimates the perseverance of fools."

There are many reasons errr rather lawsuits as to why why 'guide rails' are no longer called 'guard rails' or 'cruise control' quickly dropped the 'auto-cruise' nomenclature when first commercially introduced and so on & so forth...

So....
 

....we are in a very dangerous time period where all of this "semi" autonomous driving tech is populating the market. This "half-way" auto tech is where we will see huge numbers of these types of incidents.

Google has it right, it needs to be FULLY autonomous or ZERO autonomous. This "part time" stuff where drivers still have to intervene, just doesn't cut it.

When the cars have no steering wheels and they do EVERYTHING, that will eliminate the accidents for the most part.

I'll keep my old Boxster, thank you very much.

Cheers.

:cheers:

Ha ha ha! Love your comments about the zombie Pokemon players. Save us from idiots! I don't even use cruise control. I like to drive..

Calling it "autopilot" is the biggest mistake Tesla could have made. It should have been called something that ends in "assist"

Correct

Assist is indeed closer to reality but it also mean disabled, or not autonomous, in "marketing" vocabulary.

Autopilot meaning I can flip the switch and get on with my other more important things e.g. drinking fresh coffee and reading the morning headlines. In "marketing" vocabulary.

Feel bad for this poor chap and his family. Tragedy for everyone (the industry also)

Did the police not find a portable DVD Player at the scene with the movie still playing?, if the guy in question was actually watching a DVD while in "autopilot" then can you really fault Tesla or thier technology?, there is no fix for stupid.

"Both" is at fault.

Just goes to show how silly we all are RE competing for modernization.

sad stuff to see...

I have been testing software for 15+ years - Software Fails - - A Lot
Or
The software is not completely tested for every scenario so no one knows that it hasn't been designed for a specific set of situations
Then when it gets fixed, it breaks a few versions later
It only works as well as programmers, design architects can for-see all the various scenarios the program will face.

Can't say never