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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday November 04 2018, @07:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the shouldn't-it-be-auto-driver? dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

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.)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @06:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @06:38PM (#758121)

    what kind of dumb ass puts a 90 on a highway...

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 05 2018, @07:37PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 05 2018, @07:37PM (#758156) Journal

    Politicians, of course. That highway could have taken any route at all through Cleveland - short of running it through the courthouse. Eminent domain was used in many cases when the Interstate Highways were built. They could have mowed down any neighborhood that wasn't home to the city's wealthiest, and most influential people. They could have bulldozed right through any, or all, of the ethnic minority neighborhoods. But, someone wanted that shoreline veiw, or some such nonsense. And, it was probably the least valuable property in the city. Anything built there is going to flood. Cleveland doesn't get the lake effect snow that Buffalo gets, but it's the same lake, with pretty much the same weather patterns. The lake does try really really hard, at times, to submerge that stretch of highway. Maybe it succeeds sometimes, and I wasn't around to see it.