Why are Tesla cars killing their drivers?

[Col Lamb]

Emotive title, why?

Because yet again a Tesla has killed their driver.

This time a Tesla X where the driver engaged the autopilot prior to the car crashing into a concrete barrier and killing them.

According to Tesla:-

“The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive,"

"The driver's hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision."

"The driver had about five seconds and 150m (490ft) of unobstructed view of the concrete divider... but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken,"

So if the car did not have a response from the driver, why did it not slow down and stop?

Why would anyone be so stupid as to even consider engaging a Tesla autopilot after so many problems with it?

Why are Tesla drivers prepared to be Beta testers with theirown lives?

If I were a Tesla owner I would be very concerned at the end condition of the X.

[Ian.g]

That looks terrible. The front end has just gone. Very worrying.

[Paul]

Agree it’s very sad.....
but contrast this against the 40000 deaths in 2017 in the US where the drivers were entirely in control of their vehicles....

[Nosmo]

Agree it’s very sad.....
but contrast this against the 40000 deaths in 2017 in the US where the drivers were entirely in control of their vehicles....

And most of those 40000 were driving in a straight line, like this plonker . Honestly, crashing into a concrete barrier on a Mway is brainless

[Deleted User 1874]

To understand what probably happened here, you first need to understand how the Tesla Autopilot actually works.

In order to stop people from attempting to use AP as a totally autonomous driving system e.g. reading a newspaper, falling asleep etc, Tesla implemented a system whereby you have to actually hold the steering wheel every minute or so to demonstrate that you are still paying some attention. If you don't do this then the dash starts to flash at you and if you ignore the flashing it then starts to give really obvious audible warnings and then eventually AP is switched off. The car does not slow down and stop, it simply goes back into manual driving mode. So I'm guessing this driver had probably fallen asleep at the wheel and was totally unaware of all the flashing lights and audible warnings before the system switched out of AP and steamed on into a concrete wall.

I use AP all the time, but I'm not stupid enough to consider it a totally autonomous system. It's more like a really intelligent smart cruise control with steering assist. You can also use it without the auto-steering function too, which is advisable anywhere except on motorways. It's a very good system, but inevitably some people will abuse it at their peril. All car manufacturers are about to go through this learning curve with semi-autonomous driving aids. Some people do very stupid things!

[spook]

Well at least it hasn't burst into flames good old lithium