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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.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 14 2018, @06:06PM (1 child)
Do some get criticized for driving 1 mph under? Sure. And thats not fair in most contexts
Most of the times I criticize the ones that stay stopped at green lights. The ones that refuse to pull onto a road unless they can directly get in the lane they want. The ones that drive through town OBVIOUSLY lost, turning their blinker on, slowing down turning it off and scooting to the next intersection. And then the ones that drive slow in the left hand lane on a highway.
Impeding traffic, failure to properly enter a roadway, impeding traffic, and impeding traffic.
Honestly it seems like as people retire they stop caring about making it anywhere in a timely manner, they want to dawdle through life, and good for them, they have earned a break. But they do so in a manner that has NO consideration for other drivers who are trying to get somewhere by a certain time. Nope its ok for them to sit at a green light till it turns yellow and then take off screwing everyone behind them, its ok to sit in the left hand lane and force faster traffic into the right hand lanes dangerously. Its hunky dory to take time to get up to speed and then cut off the person trying to pass you.
This has nothing to do with being medically unfit. These drivers could always pull over and let the 15 cars behind them pass them but won't. These drivers could take the less busy surface streets and avoid highways, but they wont. These are baby boomers. The world is theirs and if anyone doesn't like it they will call them a millennial snowflake.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday June 15 2018, @07:08AM
I don't think that this has anything to do with the age of the driver, but rather the driver's abilities and consideration of other road users. I certainly haven't seen any evidence to support the age linkage. However, anyone who drives in such a manner should be penalised by the appropriate authorities. Anyone whose reflexes or medical condition means that they are unfit to drive should have their licence revoked - no matter what age they are.