Logs In Fatal Tesla Crash Show Driver Repeatedly Ignored Warnings To Take The Wheel

Following a fatal accident in a Tesla Model S on Autopilot in May 2016, both the National Transportation Safety Board Office of Public Affairs (NTSB) and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched investigations into the accident and Tesla’s Autopilot.

NHTSA closed its investigation earlier this year without finding any problem with the Autopilot that could have caused the crash, but NTSB’s investigation is still ongoing.

While they haven’t released the results of said investigation yet, they decided to release all the data that they have gathered since launching the investigation.
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dpalmo - 6/20/2017 11:54:35 AM

-5 Boost

Ok, not to be insensitive in a case of fatal accident, but in real life, when you ignore all of the warning signs with no effort at self preservation, you sort of deserve the Darwin award....

That begs the question - what's wrong with Tesla owners?

MDarringer - 6/20/2017 4:45:07 PM

-4 Boost

They win the Darwin award for buying a Tesla in the first place.

JRobUSC - 6/20/2017 12:10:38 PM

0 Boost

is this the accident where the guy was decapitated hitting a panel truck crossing the road because he was potentially watching a movie instead of paying attention?

TomM - 6/20/2017 4:06:41 PM

+4 Boost

Until something changes - it is still Illegal for the Driver of a vehicle to even have a screen in his sight that is capable of showing a movie while the car is moving. That is why Auto manufacturers prevent this by not allow the front screens to show a movie.

However - history has proven that there are crazy people and there are stupid people - and some can be both. Until a better human can be engineered - there will always be idiots on the road who should not be there.

atc98092 - 6/20/2017 4:56:47 PM

+2 Boost

On many vehicles it is possible to bypass the restriction and allow video playback on whatever screen is on the dash. Yep, it's illegal to do so, but when does that stop some people?

zlives - 6/20/2017 4:57:19 PM

+6 Boost

if the vehicle could warn the user <repeatedly> to take the wheel... why could it not just come to a stop and disable autopilot for that particular driver?

dumpsty - 6/22/2017 2:22:57 PM

+2 Boost

Kinda thinking the same thing. If that type of warning is ignored, then either bring car to stop or disable autopilot & shut down. But of course, it would depend on speed too. Doing something obvious could still be fatal at highway speeds.

vdiv - 6/20/2017 5:23:01 PM

+3 Boost

They have no proof he ignored the warning, they only know he did not respond to them, could have been incapacitated before the impact.

SanJoseDriver - 6/23/2017 9:46:11 PM

0 Boost

The link does not look like a very credible, independent source. If you cannot see by now that EVs and autonomous cars are the future, you are going to be way behind the curve.