True, but let's not blame the victim.
Somewhere between 7-10 iterations of the same dangerous failure mode, it's time to stop betting your life that the failure won't repeat.
> Walter complained "7-10 times the car would swivel toward that same exact barrier during auto-pilot."
This still doesn't diminish Tesla's obligation to make their autopilot system behave properly.
But he wasn't operating it.
Of course people may have abused the system if it had a more sensible name anyway. But names competitors use like Automatic Cruise Control or SuperCruise seem much more descriptive of the system’s actual abilities.
The expectation that the driver will jump in to prevent a car's autopilot from steering the car off the road into an obstruction is ridiculous. It's one thing to expect the driver to stop for on-the-actual-road dangers. This wasn't.
We don't really know what happened yet, but if it was the autopilot and it did steer into the barrier, this is at least 95% Tesla's fault.
As we see in latest Tesla report, there were multiple warnings to which the driver should respond: this means, that the problem was detected with enough time to react and the autopilot was not able to solve it on its own. Thus, it does not make sense to blame the autopilot - the technology did behave as expected (when problem cannot be solved, report asap to the owner, that he should intervene).
What Tesla can actually be blamed for, is the misunderstanding of the autopilot capabilities by the drivers. It's not an algorithmic bug, but rather a usability one. Perhaps, the warning should be issued earlier or in a more clear way. Perhaps, the drivers should receive some training, to act as supervisors of the system, not as passengers, or there even should exist a special driving license for such types of cars.
Nevertheless, the main fault was not the driver's and not the Tesla's. The safety of this road should be guaranteed by the authorities in charge, the navigation should be made sufficient for the drivers, and they clearly failed to do so.
Seriously though....I doubt it. The report said he was told to put his hands back on the wheel "earlier in the drive". I seriously doubt he would have had time to react in this case. This is not the same as a plane...there was no "ground alert" or anything like it. From what I can tell, it was doing its job then steered right into a wall. That sort of thing simply doesn't happen with a plane....when autopilot is active on a plane, there is never a situation that requires instantly noticing something is wrong, and correcting it, within a few seconds. Never.
And usability bugs, if that is what you want to call this, are indeed Tesla's fault. They, not the driver, have the resources to test and understand how human attention works (i.e. "vigilance deficit" / "handoff problem")
In a commercial jet - Goes to the toilet? Eats lunch? Chats to the co-pilot?
Sure none of those might be right but I'd warrant that a lot of people would answer with things that move the pilots concentration away from piloting, "because the auto-pilot is doing the flying". Honestly I'd assume they do any of these answers; but with the proviso that the co-pilot stays in the cockpit when the pilot leaves.
Would it make a difference if you learned that the driver knew there were problems with autopilot and was using it anyway?
Tesla should improve its systems regardless of whether it was the first such error, the seventh, or the tenth.
But mostly... I just don’t understand it. It seems like such an odd decision by the driver I don’t know what to make of it.
It’s very unfortunate that he died, but that doesn’t mean we can’t ask questions/criticize what may have gone on.
That may be what you extracted from this incident, but it's definitely not "the lesson".
It sucks that the driver died, and it sucks that the Tesla autopilot system had problems handing that kind of situation, but that does not mean the driver is blameless. He put himself and the people in the cars around him at risk by using the autopilot feature on a stretch of road where he knew it did not work well.
1.https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_releases...
Because the driver didn't receive any training from the manufacturer. Airplane pilots, in contrast, receive a ton of training right down to how to fly a specific type of aircraft(single-engine, twin-engine, instrument flying, etc.). Additionally the manufacturer will provide training to pilots on how to operate any nifty features of the commercial aircraft.
I don't believe Tesla provides any training whatsoever on how to use these features. And I'm not aware of any mechanisms preventing untrained users from activating these features. A tutorial that you can click through does not count because you do not ensure rapport with the trainee like you would in a person-to-person training.
Back when cars were being commoditized the dealer would often provide training to new drivers. And in all states new drivers are required to take a practical test to demonstrate that they are competent to drive. Does Tesla require their users to prove any sort of understanding or competence before they unlock Autopilot?
You might argue that requiring training sets a dangerous precedent, but users need to be made aware that the driver assistance systems are not foolproof, and the only foolproof way to do that is to require them to attend a training.
Tesla is beyond irresponsible with this and IMO they should be sued out of existence.
It isn't a new feature on a cell phone that you just watch a youtube video on and move on with your day.
They should have been able to fly manually and safely land with a faulty radar altimeter. It is likely the crew didn't understand the significance of the fault, even though Boeing had issued previous warnings.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_1951
But Tesla and everyone else says the owner is still ultimately responsible because AutoPilot isn’t a 100% situation.
If my car did something funky like randomly accelerate or turn hard at a given intersection and the manufacturer refused to fix it I’d stop driving through there.
Why push your luck?
I truly don’t like blaming the victim. I’ve been very critical of Tesla lately for their claims and safety issues.
But I don’t understand this man’s decision at all. It doesn’t seem reasonable.
I wish I knew why he kept using the system in that area.
The ONLY idea I can think of is when the car got an update he would try again to see if it was fixed and of the tries was sadly the last.
As for blame, the check engine light is for emissions gear, and will not effect safe vehicle operation. A wobbly front end, however, can indicate a serious problem, and yes, it is the driver's responsibility to operate a safe vehicle on public roads, and it would in fact be their fault if something happened because they did not perform proper maintenance.
I'd get this fixed, if I'm right you're going to lose half the braking power of your car soon. (Pretty much all cars have a dual braking system, if shit happens you lose one front and one rear brake but not everything)
I don't even think that even applies in this case.
If TFA is correct and there is a problem in this particular spot and you still rely on autopilot then who is left to blame except the person who entrusted their life to a system known to be faulty?
"He was right, dead right, as he drove along, but he's just as dead as if he were wrong."
I'm a biker. I can drive, but only ever drive rentals; motorcycles are my primary mode.
A sense of righteousness for being in the right on a bike will get you killed. You ride within the margin of not just your own error, but also those of other road users, and your own machine, with your best judgement and risk preference tradeoff.
If your machine has a known tendency to do something bad in some situation, you avoid that situation, even if you have someone else to blame. Blame doesn't keep you alive.
If they only tried at the dealership and not the actual place... that seems like a big mistake on their part.