Whoops 




US driver killed while Tesla electric car on ‘autopilot’ mode



US auto-safety regulators are investigating Tesla Motors’ autopilot feature after a motorist using the system died in Florida, ratcheting up scrutiny on the electric vehicle maker and on the auto industry’s race to develop driverless cars.

Tesla alerted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to the crash nearly two months ago, shortly after a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front a Tesla Model S sedan that had the autopilot feature deployed, according to a statement from the agency overnight (AEST).

Tesla said the technology — designed to conduct some of the critical functions traditionally left to drivers — didn’t automatically brake because the truck couldn’t be detected given certain conditions. The accident was mentioned in a police blotter in the Levy County Journal.

Joshua Brown, a 40-year-old Ohio owner of a Tesla Model S, died when his electric car drove under the trailer of an 18-wheel semi during a trip on a highway in Williston, Florida, according to the police blotter report and public records. The driver of the truck, Frank Baressi, said that the Tesla was moving at a high speed and didn’t hit the brakes.

In a statement, Tesla said that the vehicle was on a divided highway with autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S. “Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake wasn’t applied,” Tesla said. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer hitting the windshield of the Model S.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/us-driver-killed-while-tesla-electric-c...

I don't use the automatic parking feature on my car, cause I just don't trust it.

Not that I have this feature but there is no way I'm going to let auto pilot drive me down the free way or even in a built up area.

What if the driver in front brakes hard and your auto pilot to avoid a collision jumps on the footpath and collects a few pedestrians along the way.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jul 1^st, 2016 at 11:07am:


Anything automated and left to computers is best left to stable and repetitive environments where the function gets repeated every x number of cycles in a certain time frame.

Road conditions are rarely repetitive or stable.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jul 1^st, 2016 at 11:25am:


I covered that in my answer, where critical thinking is required then computers are just not up to scratch imo.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jul 1^st, 2016 at 11:29am:


LOL you have a point there but its just not for me (auto pilot)....

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Jul 1^st, 2016 at 11:25am:


Auto boxes are there to make the drivers life easier (and these days to actually increase performance) . Electric control of the engine is for performance reasons. The other 3 only kick in when the driver has lost control. Most of the time they do nothing.

These autopilots don't just make the driving easier, they literally do the driving. The person behind the wheel (Can't really call them the driver) can sit there reading a book or go to sleep for the amount of good they are doing, as the car just steers and stops itself.

It is one thing to have ABS as a safety backup for when the driver makes a mistake when braking, but to rely on the car to drive itself is a completely different type of automation.

Too complicated. Computers are not the answer to everything.

innocentbystander. wrote on Jul 1^st, 2016 at 9:45am:


Looks like it would have happened anyway.