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El Reg reports
[January 23] a Tesla Model S slammed into a stationary firetruck at around 65mph on Interstate 405 in Culver City, California. The car was driven under the fire engine, although the driver was able to walk away from the crash uninjured and refused an offer of medical treatment.
The motorist claimed the Model S was driving with Autopilot enabled when it crammed itself under the truck. Autopilot is Tesla's super-cruise-control system. It's not a fully autonomous driving system.
[...] The fire truck was parked in the carshare lane of the road with its lights flashing. None of the fire crew were hurt, although Powell noted that if his team had been in their usual position at the back of the truck then there "probably would not have been a very good outcome."
Tesla will no doubt be going over the car's computer logs to determine exactly what happened, something the California Highway Patrol will also be interested in. If this was a case of the driver sticking on Autopilot, and forgetting their responsibility to watch the road ahead it wouldn't be the first time.
In 2016, a driver was killed after both he and the Tesla systems missed a lorry pulling across the highway. A subsequent investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board found the driver was speeding and had been warned by the car six times to keep his hands on the wheel.
Tesla has since beefed up the alerts the car will give a driver if it feels they aren't paying full attention to the road. The safety board did note in its report that the introduction of Tesla's Autosteer software had cut collisions by 40 per cent.
Previous: Tesla's Semiautonomous System Contributed to Fatal Crash
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday January 25 2018, @06:22AM (5 children)
I’ve watched people and I study people and I had, in particular, a great tutor on this, but I look and I see what it does to people when they lose control, and a lot of times they lose control. With alcohol or with drugs. A guy drinks too much and you have something HORRIBLE. Like Ted Kennedy. Like what happened to Dodi & Diana (God I wanted to bang her, but she crashed). Or like this guy in California. They made pot legal and this guy had a BAD car accident. He wasn't hurt, he could have been hurt. Nobody was hurt, somebody could have been hurt. The guy's car, the fire engine, maybe some damage to those. Probably some damage. Somebody's insurance is going up. Because somebody got high! They put a tax on pot, they think it'll help their economy. It won't help, folks. Because there's going to be another CRASH like this one. And the insurance folks -- the driver's insurance -- will go, "oh no, too many people are getting high, we need to raise EVERYONE'S rates."
Let me tell you, when we hire a driver, we check his breath. And we do the drug test. Always, always.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Thursday January 25 2018, @10:24AM (3 children)
We are doing a pretty good job, I think, with nailing people who DUI, and I 100% agree with the penalties imposed. But I do believe something has to be done about all these "entertainment centers" in cars. I am not in the car to be "entertained"!. Driving is damned serious business.
I'll offer a short rant on something on modern cars that really bugs me... the radio.
Some of this technology is great... GPS, navigation aids, things to warn you if someone in in your blind spot. But some things in particular, like these computer controlled radios that can no longer be adjusted by feel, and I have to go through menus and lots of tiny little pushbutton crap, read fine print on a display, and the like, - this kind of stuff does NOT belong in a car! If I have a radio in the car, it HAS to be one I can adjust by feel. I have a new "modern" radio in my van, and I hate it - for that reason. I liked the one in my 40 year old car. Two knobs, and five large preset buttons, because DJ's often get carried away once they have a microphone in front of them, and forget we tuned in for some music.
I will replace the bojangled thing with an old-school AM-FM thingie if I can find one that even an old man can use.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 25 2018, @11:13AM
if I can find one
Go to the boneyard. (Pick-a-Part)
On a clapped out old heap, I would think that the radio would still work.
DJ's often get carried away once they have a microphone
I hate radio "personalities" too.
Aside from the classical station, Bob Parlocha on the jazz station was the last good one and he's been dead almost 3 years.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 25 2018, @04:34PM
What you need is Amazon Alexa: Car Edition.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday January 25 2018, @05:46PM
I would say we're pretty good with nailing the average citizen who DUIs. Money and Power still go a long way towards making some things disappear.
As far as radio, etc. goes in modern vehicles. A good one has channel up/down and volume up/down on your steering wheel. Perhaps both of my vehicles are a decade out-of-date? Tiny push buttons, fine print displays, and the like should be operated when the vehicle is parked. You shouldn't be trying to reach over and access the glove compartment and fiddling with that unless you're parked, either.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 25 2018, @11:04AM
It's not too late, Don. I mean you know where she's buried, and it's not like she's going to fight back. Or can you only get it up when they are struggling and shouting "no!"?
Oh, and be careful who you hire to transport you around, even if their drug tests do check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVZvUVTphW0 [youtube.com]