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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday January 25 2018, @02:16AM   Printer-friendly
from the stay-alert-stay-alive dept.

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


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  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday January 25 2018, @10:03AM (2 children)

    by anubi (2828) on Thursday January 25 2018, @10:03AM (#627615) Journal

    I have a "speed control" in my van. I will not use it for this very reason.

    When I re-do its wiring, that is going to be one of the first things to be permanently removed from service.

    I take driving a vehicle extremely seriously. Not only for me, and my property, but everyone else on the road as well.

    Nobody's safe if people aren't paying attention when driving.

    Having a vehicle under control of an inattentive driver is worse than putting a live gun in a child's playpen. While a child may take out a person, an inattentive driver can easily wipe out the whole family, possibly two or more families, - in one big bang.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 25 2018, @02:50PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 25 2018, @02:50PM (#627696)

    That is an overreaction.

    Cruise control removes the need to continually monitor speed. I tend to go too fast if left to my own device. Cruise control keeps me from doing that. On top of it I have found myself following too close in the past, adaptive cruise control keeps that from happening.

    So kudos, if you are the perfectly attentive driver that can constantly monitor speed, lane position, distance from the car in front of you, traffic to the side and behind you for many hours on a road trip. I doubt your nearly as good as you think you are.

    You arent the one in the left hand lane going five under are you? Its my experience those drivers also have an inflated sense of their own driving ability.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday January 25 2018, @06:43PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Thursday January 25 2018, @06:43PM (#627800)

      > You arent the one in the left hand lane going five under are you?
      > Its my experience those drivers also have an inflated sense of their own driving ability.

      Not surprising, since they are always told by the insurance that they are at "no fault" for getting rear-ended.
      If I was a cop, left-lane cruisers would be in pain (their wallets, at least). What's so evil about the right lane? I love it because it's always the empty one.