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Tesla Model X driver dies in Mountain View crash
Submitted via IRC for Fnord666
The driver of a Tesla Model X has died following a highway crash in Mountain View, leaving a number of safety questions.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/24/tesla-model-x-driver-dies-in-mountain-view-crash/
Tesla Crash: Model X Was In Autopilot Mode, Firm Says
In a post on its website, the electric-car maker said computer logs retrieved from the wrecked SUV show that Tesla's driver-assisting Autopilot technology was engaged and that the driver doesn't appear to have grabbed the steering wheel in the seconds before the crash.
The car's 38-year-old driver died after the vehicle hit a concrete lane divider on a Northern California freeway and caught fire. The accident happened March 23.
[...] In its Friday post, Tesla said the crashed Model X's computer logs show that the driver's hands weren't detected on the steering wheel for 6 seconds prior to the accident. It said they also show the driver had "about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider" before the crash but that "no action was taken."
The company cited various statistics in defending Autopilot in the post and said there's no doubt the technology makes vehicles safer than traditional cars.
"Over a year ago," the post said, "our first iteration of Autopilot was found by the US government to reduce crash rates by as much as 40 percent. Internal data confirms that recent updates to Autopilot have improved system reliability."
"Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents -- such a standard would be impossible -- but it makes them much less likely to occur," the post reads. "It unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Monday April 02 2018, @02:28PM (9 children)
Its interesting if they dropped the self driving gimmick they would be a more successful car company.
Oldest startup rule in the book, never try to "innovate" too many things at the same time, so naturally they "self drive" and "electric car" and then crash (pun?). Just one or the other probably would have worked out.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 02 2018, @02:31PM (8 children)
Oh and as a followup, VLMs law of shitty journalism (but I repeat myself, LOL) means failure of the company due to EV issues or self driving issues means shitty journalists will use it as proof the other side, the one that actually worked, is unworkable in the marketplace.
So if self driving crashes kill the company as now seems likely, there will be shitty journalists pushing the meme that EV is a dead end. And if EV battery problems kill the company, as seems much less likely, there will be shitty journalists pushing the meme that self driving crashes kill companies.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 02 2018, @02:38PM (1 child)
If this junk website offered editing, like was discussed earlier, then maybe we could avoid this nonsensical self-replying.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @06:25AM
I for one like the way it works now.
Sure I do make many a stupid typos that I would like to fix but if you could edit your post you could change much more than a minor typo, making following the debate and reasoning very difficult and people saying they agree with somebody (A) when the edited post now talks about something else (B). Also this makes people more likely to pay attention to what they post in order to avoid stupid typos. I'm sure many will also cancel posting worthless drivel too because of this double take. While replying to yourself might be considered not elegant I think it's a minor price to pay here.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Monday April 02 2018, @02:48PM (1 child)
"EV is a dead end" is a dead meme.
Volvo Aiming to Sell One Million Electric Vehicles by 2025 [soylentnews.org]
Ford to Invest $11 Billion in Electric Vehicles and Produce 40 Hybrid and Electric Models by 2022 [soylentnews.org]
You can probably find more.
And here's a fun one:
U.S. Utilities Look To Electric Cars As Their Savior Amid Decline In Demand [npr.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday April 02 2018, @05:40PM
It's not a dead end...unless they fail to solve the battery supplies problem. I've seen a couple of pieces about not processes for extracting Lithium, and a couple about new technologies based on Carbon, but they need to come up with *SOME* answer or the EVs are going to be quite limited in number. And processes still in the lab won't do the job. (But they're clearly working on the problem.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 02 2018, @02:49PM (1 child)
If this junk website offered editing, like was discussed earlier, then maybe we could avoid this nonsensical self-replying.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 02 2018, @02:51PM
You are a junk user. Too bad we can't delete your posts.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 02 2018, @05:03PM
If this junk website offered editing, like was discussed earlier, then maybe we could avoid this nonsensical self-replying.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 02 2018, @05:49PM
If this junk website offered editing, like was discussed earlier, then maybe we could avoid this nonsensical self-replying.