SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Two Soylentils wrote in with news of a fatal accident involving a Tesla vehicle. Please note that the feature in use, called "Autopilot" is not the same as an autonomous vehicle. It provides lane-keeping, cruise control, and safe-distance monitoring, but the driver is expected to be alert and in control at all times. -Ed.
Man Killed in Crash of 'Self-Driving' Car
Tech Insider reports that an Ohio man was killed on 7 May when his Tesla Model S, with its autopilot feature turned on, went under a tractor-trailer.
Further information:
- Tesla Motors blog
- NHTSA report
- video uploaded by the victim, demonstrating use of the autopilot feature
Tesla Autopilot - Fatal Accident
Accident is reported to have happened in May, and reported to NHTSA/DOT immediately by Tesla. But not public until the end of June -- something a bit fishy about this reporting lag.
On the other hand, the accident is described as one that might have also been difficult for an alert human to have avoided:
The May crash occurred when a tractor trailer drove across a divided highway, where a Tesla in autopilot mode was driving. The Model S passed under the tractor trailer, and the bottom of the trailer hit the Tesla vehicle's windshield.
"Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied," Tesla wrote.
This was the first reporting found--by the time it makes the SN front page there may be more details. Because this is a "first" it seems likely that a detailed investigation and accident reconstruction will be performed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by quintessence on Friday July 01 2016, @02:08AM
Depending on the re-creation of the accident it might be to neither human of AI could have avoided it.
Even with the best of programing, I anticipate errors. The question will be the average accidents compared to a human driver. My suspicion is even poor AI will perform better than most drivers.
(Score: 2) by quintessence on Friday July 01 2016, @02:12AM
And a hell of a lot better than my spelling correction.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday July 01 2016, @04:28PM
If only we had a spellcheck AI. :)
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Friday July 01 2016, @05:14AM
"This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated. Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles,"
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Interesting) by butthurt on Friday July 01 2016, @06:52AM
If drivers tend to turn on the autopilot feature mainly when travelling on expressways, but turn it off for surface streets, then the statistics reflect different driving conditions.