Uh oh, another Tesla autopilot crash fatality

[MetroMPG]

An IIHS study of insurance claims does not paint a good picture of the S:

...the Model S had higher claim frequencies, higher claim severities and higher overall losses than other large luxury cars. Under collision coverage, for example, analysts estimated that the Model S's mileage-adjusted claim frequency was 37 percent higher than the comparison group, claim severity was 64 percent higher, and overall losses were 124 percent higher.

Meanwhile, it was a better story for the Nissan Leaf, which had lower mileage-adjusted claims frequency, severity and overall losses when compared to Nissan's similarly sized Versa Note.

Source: Tesla Model S has high crash losses

[Ecky]

I can't say I'm surprised that's the case in a vehicle which approaches 1000 ft-lbs of torque. I imagine it's quite easy to be very stupid in one.

[MetroMPG]

Valid point - I didn't dig to find out WHICH luxury cars it was compared to. EG: BMW 5-series, or M5?

[wdb]

Large luxury cars are all pretty powerful. (Some more than others of course.) I don't think the power availability explains the Model S disparity.

[matt36415]

When there is a death, who is held responsible with autopilot? What does USA law say or is it state by state? The recent pedestrian killed by an Uber Volvo on auto drive in the US, who gets penalised?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by matt36415

When there is a death, who is held responsible with autopilot? What does USA law say or is it state by state? The recent pedestrian killed by an Uber Volvo on auto drive in the US, who gets penalised?

The driver who was killed gets penalised, and the penalty is death. Uber will settle out of court with family members, so no determination of blame will be made most likely.

[MetroMPG]

Facing a possible lawsuit, Tesla has come out unequivocally blaming the driver in the Model X crash:

... the only way for this accident to have occurred is if Mr. Huang was not paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so.

The fundamental premise of both moral and legal liability is a broken promise, and there was none here. Tesla is extremely clear that Autopilot requires the driver to be alert and have hands on the wheel. This reminder is made every single time Autopilot is engaged. If the system detects that hands are not on, it provides visual and auditory alerts. This happened several times on Mr. Huang’s drive that day.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-model-x-crash

[wdb]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Facing a possible lawsuit, Tesla has come out unequivocally blaming the driver in the Model X crash:



Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-model-x-crash

I wonder if that was released before or after NTSB tossed them out of the investigation. Maybe it's just me but I think they'd serve themselves better it they'd just STFU for a little while. But then that's never been their MO.

[MetroMPG]

The arguments in the lawsuit will be interesting.

- On one hand, the driver wasn't paying attention.
- On the other hand, it seems possible that the car actively steered itself into the crash.

Maybe Tesla just needs to re-word the existing "disclaimer/warning language" when activating autopilot, to get owners to pay better attention. Something like:

WARNING: this vehicle may randomly try to kill you. Stay sharp! Are you sure you wish to proceed? Y/N

[MetroMPG]

So, two more cases of Model S crashes on autopilot have happened:

- One ran into the back of a stationary fire truck at just shy of 60 MPH. The "driver" admitted whe was using her phone for an extended period, and hit the brakes less than 1 second before impact. The car's adaptive speed control had actually accelerated just before the crash.

- The other ran into the back of a stationary police vehicle.

This is the 3rd case I know of with Teslas autopiloting themselves into stationary emergency vehicles at speed.

But so far, the cars are only harming their "drivers". (Their "non-drivers"? "Beta testers?")

All hell's going to break loose the first time a Tesla autopilots itself into killing an innocent person. I have a feeling it'll generate a lot more attention than the Uber crash.