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Another Tesla with Autopilot crashed into a stationary object—the driver is suing
Earlier this month, Shawn Hudson's Tesla Model S crashed into a stalled car while moving at about 80 miles per hour on a Florida freeway. Tesla's Autopilot technology was engaged at the time, and Hudson has now filed a lawsuit against Tesla in state courts.
"Through a pervasive national marketing campaign and a purposefully manipulative sales pitch, Tesla has duped consumers" into believing that Autpilot can "transport passengers at highway speeds with minimal input and oversight," the lawsuit says.
Hudson had a two-hour commute to his job at an auto dealership. He says that he heard about Tesla's Autopilot technology last year and went to a Tesla dealership to learn more.
"Tesla's sales representative reassured Hudson that all he needed to do as the driver of the vehicle is to occasionally place his hand on the steering wheel and that the vehicle would 'do everything else,'" the lawsuit claims.
Tesla blames driver in last month's fatal crash with Autopilot engaged
But that description of Tesla's Autopilot system is not true. While the system can handle a range of driving conditions, it's not designed to stop for parked cars or other stationary objects when traveling at highway speeds. This year, at least two other Tesla drivers have plowed into parked vehicles while their cars were in Autopilot mode (one of them sued Tesla last month). Another Tesla customer, Californian Walter Huang, was killed when his Tesla vehicle ran into a concrete lane divider at full speed.
"It is the driver's responsibility to remain attentive to their surroundings and in control of the vehicle at all times," a Tesla spokesman told Ars by email. "Tesla goes to great lengths to provide clear instructions about what Autopilot is and is not, including by offering driver instructions when owners test drive and take delivery of their car, before drivers enable Autopilot and every single time they use Autopilot, as well as through the Owner's Manual and Release Notes for software updates." (I've reproduced Tesla's full emailed statement at the end of the story.)
(Score: 2) by Username on Monday November 05 2018, @12:25AM
I think he's talking about all the sensors sharing a data line when you used the term integrated. As in combined into one part. He's probably a mac person, since this problem is common on macbooks and airbooks, etc. They have temp sensors on the same line as the light sensor on the camera, so when that fails and grounds out, or you get a speck of shit on a connector, it take down the signal from the other sensors. Making the macbook fan runs 100% and throttles cpu multiplier to base to prevent thermal damage from not successfully polling the temp sensor.
Doesn't even have to be linked up, it just has to work. Something in road, hit the brakes. Autopilot, like cruse control, should turn off when brakes are engaged. Now if he turned the braking feature off due to nuisance braking, it's still the features fault. Should work or not have it at all. It's like having a seatbelt that rips apart when any kind of force is applied. He should sue not only tesla but the manufacturer of the braking system and the legislator who added the mandate.