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Tesla fatal crash: 'autopilot' mode sped up car before driver killed, report finds
A Tesla driving in "autopilot" mode crashed in March when the vehicle sped up and steered into a concrete barrier, according to a new report on the fatal collision, raising fresh concerns about Elon Musk's technology.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that four seconds before the 23 March crash on a highway in Silicon Valley, which killed Walter Huang, 38, the car stopped following the path of a vehicle in front of it. Three seconds before the impact, it sped up from 62mph to 70.8mph, and the car did not brake or steer away, the NTSB said.
[...] The NTSB report [...] has once again raised serious safety questions about the limits and performance of the autopilot technology, which is meant to assist drivers and has faced growing scrutiny from experts and regulators. Mark Fong, an attorney for Huang's family, also said the report appeared to "contradict Tesla's characterization" of the collision.
The NTSB press release includes this link to the preliminary report, for anyone inclined to read the slightly longer version of events.
The Mountain View Fire Department applied about 200 gallons of water and foam to extinguish the post-crash fire. The battery reignited five days after the crash in an impound lot and was extinguished by the San Mateo Fire Department.
Layoffs at Tesla
Tesla Lays Off 9 Percent Of Workforce
Tesla will lay off about 3,500 workers in an effort to boost profitability, CEO Elon Musk wrote in a company email.
"What drives us is our mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable," Musk wrote.
Musk conceded that Tesla has not made an annual profit in 15 years. The company posted its largest quarterly loss, of more than $700 million, earlier this year.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 2) by Snow on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:56PM (9 children)
I don't believe that the layoffs and the crash are related at all. The layoffs are because Tesla continues to fall short of production quotas as I understand it.
Re: The crash. I saw a story somewhere (Arstechnica?) about the vehicle detecting technologies that are used, and they are programmed to ignore non-moving objects to reduce false positives. You don't want your car slamming on the brakes because it is about to pass under an overhead road sign.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 14 2018, @03:12PM (1 child)
that is why the two parts of the title are separated by ";" semi-colon -- they are only related because both are about Tesla. I watched this story sit in the queue for awhile and various "MERGE" items were added along the way.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday June 14 2018, @04:40PM
You can generally think of a semicolon in this usage as a replacement for a conjunction. Some examples:
and or but however
Let's not assume it means "because," people.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 4, Informative) by ledow on Thursday June 14 2018, @03:13PM
If you're being driven by a driver who confuses an overhead road sign for a solid block of concrete in their path at ground level, I suggest you might want to try a different Uber driver next time (if you survive).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 14 2018, @03:27PM (5 children)
i would not have even opened the article here on soylent were it not for my desire to reply and say Headline Fail
editors, do not do this again. it is far too misleading and i'd expect something like it someplace else
(Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Thursday June 14 2018, @05:33PM (4 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 14 2018, @05:52PM (1 child)
Sure why not, as long as you aren't implying that a comment's grammar is nearly as important as the posted title's grammar. Cause you'd be wrong about that.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday June 15 2018, @07:34AM
"cause" should be "because" - :)
You could always become an editor!
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Thursday June 14 2018, @10:25PM
Don't take the bait Janrirok.
The site is a great source of news thanks to folks such as yourself - and if people come here "just to laugh at the headline" or some such nonsense, let them. The overwhelming majority come here to participate in the conversation. And some come here to push their partisan views. Oh, and some come here to simply argue with each other. But... you know.. most come here to participate in the conversation... mainly... or at least some of the time.
*sips coffee*
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @10:29AM
Maybe he is e.e. cummings.