
Tesla Autopilot Crash Caught on Dashcam - paulsutter
https://electrek.co/2017/03/02/tesla-autopilot-crash-video-how-note-to-use/
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narak
Huge Tesla/Musk fanboy here, but I have no idea how they've gotten away with
marketing decade old lane-keeping technology as autonomous driving to
customers. Already resulted in a couple of deaths. It's clear from this video
that the car didn't event attempt to avoid the upcoming obstacle, while the
human driver in the pickup-truck ahead had no issues.

And somehow, stage 4/5 autonomy is a year away?

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astrodust
Driving has resulted in innumerable deaths. In most cases the auto-pilot
feature increases safety. In a very small number it decreases it. Life's about
trade-offs.

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narak
I agree that autonomous doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be better
than humans (by how much we will leave to regulators) but it's not clear that
the actual safety of these systems has kept up with the marketing around them.
I would love to see the evidence.

~~~
AnsemWise
NHTSA’s full final investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot shows 40% crash rate
reduction

[https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/19/nhtsas-full-final-
investig...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/19/nhtsas-full-final-
investigation-into-teslas-autopilot-shows-40-crash-rate-reduction/)

Here's the evidence.

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mannykannot
The systems that steer the car should be evaluated independently of the
emergency braking features, or else the benefits of the latter could mask
deficiencies of the former.

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orasis
The author of this article shouldn't be apologizing for Tesla. The car should
work to avoid hitting stuff. Period.

"The footage shows that the Tesla needed to merge or change lane in order to
avoid the barrier – something the Autopilot should never be left to do without
the driver intervening."

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mannykannot
I wonder if the driver quietly agreed to a settlement with a non-disclosure
clause? We know they are common, so the suggestion is not fanciful.

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zaroth
The most amazing part of the story is that someone managed to find the footage
and link it with the Reddit thread. Those /r/ guys have got skills.

Wisdom of the mob doesn't always get it right, but when it does it's amazing
the watch.

But yeah, those road markers drawn straight into the barrier is classic Road
Runner.

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Tenykitime
"The driver should have been awake at the wheel and looking forward. Had he
been alert, he could have easily taken over in time to steer the car to the
right. Clearly he wasn’t alert in this instance with his hands on the wheel
per Tesla’s instructions."

I would have to disagree with this assumption. At that speed, there is no way
he would be able to recognize what was going on and react in time to prevent
the collision. There was such a sudden change in the direction of the lane
that I had to watch the video five plus times figure out where things went
wrong. In the end, Tesla shouldn't drive into stationary objects

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inuhj
As a Model X owner the driver violated one of my personal rules for autopilot:

If you are not in a center lane then don't engage autopilot. You don't want to
be able to collide with a barrier because of a little lane drift.

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astrodust
The "Car needs service" indicator on the dash screen is an under-statement,
isn't it?

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AnsemWise
For all of those saying that Autopilot is dangerous.

NHTSA’s full final investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot shows 40% crash rate
reduction

[https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/19/nhtsas-full-final-
investig...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/19/nhtsas-full-final-investig..).

The report by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration says
that Tesla’s Autopilots are reducing the number of crashes by 40%.

~~~
MR4D
Not sure why you're being downvoted for posting this...

Facts rule, and the NHTSA is one of the best in analyzing accident statistics
in the world.

~~~
_rpd
I agree, this is crucial information for assessing the incident. Autodrive
crashes are going to be greater than zero, the important question is are they
going to be less than manual driving?

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brador
Do autonomous cars not have proximity sensors that activate braking?

