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from the keep-your-eyes-on-the-road-and-your-hands-on-the-wheel dept.
Tesla's advanced driver assist system, Autopilot, was active when a Model 3 driven by a 50-year-old Florida man crashed into the side of a tractor-trailer truck on March 1st, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) states in a report released on Thursday. Investigators reviewed video and preliminary data from the vehicle and found that neither the driver nor Autopilot "executed evasive maneuvers" before striking the truck.
[...] The driver, Jeremy Beren Banner, was killed in the crash. It is at least the fourth fatal crash of a Tesla vehicle involving Autopilot.
This crash is eerily similar to another one involving a Tesla in 2016 near Gainesville, Florida. In that incident, Joshua Brown was killed when his Model S sedan collided with a semitrailer truck on a Florida highway in May 2016, making him the first known fatality in a semi-autonomous car.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determined that a "lack of safeguards" contributed to Brown's death. Meanwhile, today's report is just preliminary, and the NTSB declined to place blame on anyone.
Source: The Verge
Also at Ars Technica.
(Score: 3, Informative) by lentilla on Friday May 17 2019, @11:25PM (1 child)
Your post has me horrified. I don't care how much someone "needs" to drive to "support their independence", if they can't drive properly they should not be allowed to drive. That goes for special needs people, aged people, recalcitrant drunk drivers and those that simply can't or won't learn to drive in a moderately skilled and safe manner.
The only reason we tolerate learners (youngsters) is that they learn quickly and are supervised whilst doing so.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday May 18 2019, @12:08PM
Well, that's the question, isn't it? And, the proof is in the accident rate. At least among the SN population I know, they have a roughly average "starting driver" accident rate - one or two minor collisions in the first 5 years, tapering down with experience.
However, I think their parents/caregivers agree: it's pretty terrifying at first. On the other hand, if they live in rural Alabama and they can't drive, that makes them 100% dependent on other transportation, which - given the historical accident rate - is unjustified.
I will say, there are some who try it and give it up, because they never do learn to drive well - which is more common among the SN population than the "normies" - there are plenty of "normies" who get into a dozen crashes or more and still drive.
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