The Associated Press looks at three new fatalities involving Teslas this week, saying the crashes have “increased scrutiny of the company’s Autopilot driving system just months before CEO Elon Musk has planned to put fully self-driving cars on the streets.”
Last Sunday, a Tesla Model S sedan left a freeway in Gardena, California, at a high speed, ran a red light and struck a Honda Civic, killing two people inside, police said…. Raj Rajkumar, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, said it’s likely that the Tesla in Sunday’s California crash was operating on Autopilot, which has become confused in the past by lane lines. He speculated that the lane line was more visible for the exit ramp, so the car took the ramp because it looked like a freeway lane. He also suggested that the driver might not have been paying close attention. “No normal human being would not slow down in an exit lane,” he said…
On the same day, a Tesla Model 3 hit a parked firetruck on an Indiana freeway, killing a passenger in the Tesla… In both cases, authorities have yet to determine whether Tesla’s Autopilot system was being used… Many experts say they’re not aware of fatal crashes involving similar driver-assist systems from General Motors, Mercedes and other automakers. GM monitors drivers with cameras and will shut down the driving system if they don’t watch the road. “Tesla is nowhere close to that standard,” Rajkumar said. He predicted more deaths involving Teslas if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fails to take action…
And on Dec. 7, yet another Model 3 struck a police cruiser on a Connecticut highway, though no one was hurt… [T]he driver told police that the car was operating on Autopilot, a Tesla system designed to keep a car in its lane and a safe distance from other vehicles.
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot