A Tesla Crashed Through a Harris County Home. Is the Car to Blame?
readponder.com
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There is no actuator that can press the pedal down, so if investigators find that the accelerator was still pushed down after the crash it probably means that this isn't a software problem.
I have driven normal cars that cut power and brake if they detect a perceived dangerous situation usually annoyingly and in error. Traction control will also cut power to prevent wheel slip regardless of pedal position.
Why?
There are plenty of videos of stuck vehicles that have a hard time due to traction control disallowing power even with full accelerator pedal, this is not a foreign concept in a modern vehicle. Here is one example, they refer to traction control as the soup nazi, no power for you! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLVae7-N_Vs
It's a feature to look for in a off road vehicle if it has a traction control disable and even ABS disable on motorcycles, this is an explicit command to disable a safety feature that typically resets when power cycled. Not sure why FSD would allow overriding an obviously unsafe situation, the operator can disable the whole thing at any time if they wish to do so and go manual with a specific on screen command rather than hitting a pedal right next to the other stop pedal with your foot resting between them otherwise.
Modern cars will auto brake if sensors detect what it thinks is an imminent collision regardless of accelerator position: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_emergency_braking_sy...
Traction control systems will cut power if wheel slip is detected again regardless of accelerator position: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traction_control_system
FSD is obviously very different than normal cruise control and I cannot see an argument why a system that knows its heading down a dead end street at more than double the posted speed limit would allow such and accelerator override and not apply automatic emergency braking, it makes no sense, that serves no purpose while leading to a tragic outcome.
Tesla proponents say it’s the drivers fault since the accelerator was held while dissenters say why didn’t the FSD step in.
I happened to just test drive a new model Y having never done so before and not being very interested for various reasons. I may be getting the new L version when released soon in the US it was very impressive especially for the current price compared to the competition and how impressive FSD was is part of my change of heart.
You can hold the accelerator while FSD is engaged to tell it to go faster, this made sense but I assumed it was a suggestion not a go down with the ship command.
So the question is should FSD prevent unsafe speed and ramming objects when engaged even if operator holds accelerator. Based on what I saw with FSD it should know the speed limit and that it was heading to a dead end cul de sac ahead of time and the cameras should see the house near the end perhaps too late to stop but at least slow down.
The argument is I have heard there are actually regulations requiring it to accept accelerator input regardless but I have used other vehicles that emergency brake based on sensor input while manually driving even somewhat annoyingly when no actual obstruction exists (phantom braking).
My thoughts are FSD was on so the accelerator is a suggestion not a to the death command and it should have not allowed the vehicle to enter the house at 70 mph. So while the driver is at fault so is FSD and the complacency it presents contributes to driver error.
Most likely explanation is the driver panic hit the accelerator instead of brake. From driving with FSD it seem easy to get complacent and then do something like that when needing to take over vs normal driving where you are already engaged with braking and accelerating manually.
We don't know what the telemetry shows. Tesla tweeted something. The driver says something else. That's insufficient data with which to conclude anything with confidence.
What are the alternatives? FSD on and no driver input? FSD off and driver rammed house without assistance?
This is mostly a thought experiment for me provoked by the incident after being impressed to buy one.
Tesla obviously wants to blame driver to absolve themselves while it’s obvious to me driving with FSD is not the same as driving normally when it comes to reacting to unusual circumstances and a certain amount of responsibility is given to the FSD.
Based discussion with the younger owners of FSD it’s obvious driving around manually will be like driving stick shift soon or writing in cursive, an atrophied skill that the younger generation will have no use for.
Probably not. If FSD (Supervised) led to predictable complacency, I could see a jury holding Tesla partly responsible.