Another fatal Tesla crash
Discussion
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/30/17182824/tesla-...
Again it seems the owner had a little too much faith in the "Autopilot" system of his Model X.
Is this just an inevitable side effect of new technology or is Tesla playing a bit fast and loose with safety by promoting the system as self driving / autopilot?
I know it beeps at you and gives you plenty of warnings and it's possible the driver was having some sort of medical issue rather than the car being at fault but it seems human nature is to trust technology when it's really not ready.
Personally I think they should disable the autosteering function and make the drivers steer at all times to keep them alert until the systems are advanced enough to offer full self driving.
What's the thoughts?
Interesting also to see the fire department response. They had specific training to deal with Tesla fires but elected to call Tesla and have them come out and make the batteries safe as the pack had split open. They also had to escort the car to the breakers and stay with it for hours due to the risk of re ignition. Their other option was to flood the car and scattered batteries with hundreds of gallons of water to cool it but this would have closed the freeway for hours. A great response I thought.
A real shame also to see this in the Tesla statement, maybe if it had been repaired the driver might have survived at least.
"""The reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced. We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash."""
Again it seems the owner had a little too much faith in the "Autopilot" system of his Model X.
Is this just an inevitable side effect of new technology or is Tesla playing a bit fast and loose with safety by promoting the system as self driving / autopilot?
I know it beeps at you and gives you plenty of warnings and it's possible the driver was having some sort of medical issue rather than the car being at fault but it seems human nature is to trust technology when it's really not ready.
Personally I think they should disable the autosteering function and make the drivers steer at all times to keep them alert until the systems are advanced enough to offer full self driving.
What's the thoughts?
Interesting also to see the fire department response. They had specific training to deal with Tesla fires but elected to call Tesla and have them come out and make the batteries safe as the pack had split open. They also had to escort the car to the breakers and stay with it for hours due to the risk of re ignition. Their other option was to flood the car and scattered batteries with hundreds of gallons of water to cool it but this would have closed the freeway for hours. A great response I thought.
A real shame also to see this in the Tesla statement, maybe if it had been repaired the driver might have survived at least.
"""The reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced. We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash."""
Edited by Blaster72 on Saturday 31st March 13:14
saaby93 said:
It's the same one, you post after me though 
I've been reading up a little more and it looks like the Autopilot 2.5 cars can auto emergency brake up to 90mph now so this sort of accident should be avoidable. It doesn't say in the blurb for that update if it only works when Autopilot is engaged though.
Tesla have been releasing some pretty poorly thought out updates on their Blog regarding this accident and would be wise to STFU until the investigation is complete in my opinion.
That's not what it says in the owners handbook.
Reads like the car looks 160 meters ahead and will warn the driver before automatically applying the brakes if it detects a collision is imminent.
There are plenty of warnings in the handbook to emphasize the system isn't infallible and it's always the up to the driver to pay attention but the wording could give people a false sense of security.
Reads like the car looks 160 meters ahead and will warn the driver before automatically applying the brakes if it detects a collision is imminent.
There are plenty of warnings in the handbook to emphasize the system isn't infallible and it's always the up to the driver to pay attention but the wording could give people a false sense of security.
This is what I don't understand.
This video was hailed as proof that Tesla cars had some kind of sixth sense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtNRU17nTyg
yet that Model X didn't spot a stationary concrete barrier closing at 70mph.
This video was hailed as proof that Tesla cars had some kind of sixth sense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtNRU17nTyg
yet that Model X didn't spot a stationary concrete barrier closing at 70mph.
Max_Torque said:
Mr2Mike said:
I don't really understand why the Tesla has no avoidance capability for static objects, surely that should be a prerequisite before attempting to make it steer itself?
Primarily cost!"Cheap" and easy to process Doppler Radar has to reject all returns that have the same phase shift as that caused by the speed of the car itself. It uses the returns phase history as it's record, rather than just time-of-flight directly.
Basically, it sends out a pulse, which bounces off an object, and the speed differential between the car and that object results in the pulse being phase shifted. The system detects that phase shift when it receives the pulse back into it's receiver some microseconds later, and identifies objects moving at a speed different to that of the car.
So what i hear you all shout! But, every single return that bounces off something stationary in the field of view ahead of the car will have a phase shift proportional to the speed of the car. The radar has to blank those returns, otherwise it will be swamped by them.
It requires a combination of technologies and a complex fusion of there returns to actually spot a stationary object. Sounds simple, but it's one of those things that it surprisingly hard to do easily.
Having said all that, right now, the major telematics Teir1's are all madly working on the development of sensor suites that combine technologies to provide a board field return. Even then however, the "smarts" have to decide what to believe and when.
Tesla are proud of their cars capabilities and still advertise the Autonomous Braking features
t!" 
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