Telsa Owner Nearly Crashes Attempting To Recreate Fatal Autopilot Accident

Tesla and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are both investigating the fatal accident involving a Model X Autopilot in Mountain View last month, but now another Tesla owner also conducted his own little investigation into the accident by following a similar scenario on Autopilot and almost crashed on video by doing so.

After reviewing the data logs of the vehicle last week, Tesla confirmed that the Model X was on Autopilot and explained the last moments before the impact:



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SanJoseDriver - 4/2/2018 5:35:48 PM

-2 Boost

If it was me, I would have at least tested it on the same freeway (and my car doesn't have Autopilot unfortunately). The situation is similar though where the software is picking up a lane between lanes that doesn't exist.

MDarringer - 4/2/2018 10:55:26 AM

+6 Boost

When you see the striping on the road and the obvious default of the system keeping the car centered, you can see how the wreck happened. Two things are true: (1) it is patently obvious that Tesla's Autokill is not ready for the road and (2) the driver in that fatal wreck was equally to blame for not paying attention to the road. Although I hope he enjoyed the Harry Potter movie in his last moments, I love Darwin even more.

GermanNut - 4/2/2018 1:28:42 PM

+2 Boost

The Harry Potter movie guy was the Model S owner that was killed when his vehicle drove into a truck. This was a Model X owner that slammed into a median. Two different incidents, two different Tesla models but a similar outcome - a person killed in a Tesla vehicle operating in autonomous mode.

MDarringer - 4/2/2018 1:41:45 PM

+3 Boost

I am well aware of that. Perhaps you're not "discerning" enough to "get" sarcasm.

EVisNow - 4/2/2018 10:59:25 AM

+3 Boost

The law of nature (natural selection) applies to everyone and his driving - be careful what you wish for.

TheSteve - 4/2/2018 12:12:11 PM

+8 Boost

Big lesson: Don't treat driver-assist systems as though they were certified for Level-5 Autonomy :-/

SanJoseDriver - 4/2/2018 5:40:23 PM

-7 Boost

4x less likely to die in a Tesla based on the last stats (albeit that was released by Tesla and not a government body). One death does not automatically make something statistically less safe than an alternate scenario when you are dealing with a sample size of hundreds of thousands of Tesla owners and hundreds of millions of drivers.

TomM - 4/2/2018 1:14:39 PM

+4 Boost

I still say that Autonomous features of cars will have to FIRST be used on roads specifically constructed or equipped for autonomous driving -likely long distance highways- where pedestrians are not allowed on the road.

An Autonomous car may be twice as smart as some humans -but when you add in a SECOND human - a pedestrian - and you get overload of possibilities - and a computer cannot solve for the one case at a time. But a human can be irrational all the time.

supermoto - 4/2/2018 1:25:09 PM

+11 Boost

lol. Let me see if I get this straight. Tesla is saying that its cars may decide to kill you at any time. And if it succeeds, it's your fault.

MDarringer - 4/2/2018 1:29:09 PM

+9 Boost

Pretty much.

SanJoseDriver - 4/2/2018 5:42:45 PM

-7 Boost

You are supposed to be paying attention, so yes, it is your fault if you die using Autopilot. You are still the driver and the system is not fully autonomous yet. If it was, then Tesla would be liable.

supermoto - 4/3/2018 12:56:59 PM

+1 Boost

A car without autopilot does not decide to suddenly change course and slam into a solid object at 70mph.

SanJoseDriver - 4/6/2018 2:38:43 AM

+1 Boost

Autopilot only makes gradual turns as you can see from the videos. No sudden reactions except for emergency braking. That's the bigger question I have, why weren't the brakes triggered for the X even if Autopilot did think it was a lane.