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posted by takyon on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the crash-and-burn dept.

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday June 14 2018, @04:36PM (1 child)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday June 14 2018, @04:36PM (#692996)

    Are you a programmer?

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Thursday June 14 2018, @05:03PM

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Thursday June 14 2018, @05:03PM (#693008)

    Clearly he works in management. :P