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-   -   Tesla on Autopilot with driver watching movie hits cop car (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/electric-cars/226440-tesla-autopilot-driver-watching-movie-hits-cop-car.html)

A Tesla Model S crashed in to a Sheriff's car outside Nashville, North Carolina early morning on Wednesday. The police car was parked on the road with lights flashing while responding to another crash.

The driver of the Tesla, Devainder Goli of Raleigh, was watching a movie on his mobile phone and had engaged the autopilot function in his Tesla Model S. He first crashed into the Sheriff's car which then slammed into another car parked ahead. There have been no injuries reported, but both the cars have been totalled.

This is not the first time that a car using autopilot has been involved in an accident. Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report on a fatal Tesla crash that happened in Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. In 2017, the NTSB had concluded that over-reliance on technology led to a Tesla crashing into a truck.

Autopilot is a level 2 autonomous system that controls the steering, acceleration and braking, but it is the human that is responsible for monitoring the surroundings. He/she must be ready to take over in case the system fails.





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Seems "Goli" went like a Goli(Bullet)lol:

Another case of over dependence on gadgetry.
I am a strong advocate of letting driving be human.
Too much gadgetry and too much over dependence on satellites can lead to serious fatalities or accidents.

No doubt that these modern cars could be super reliable but then there is something called the sixth sense that is derived from experience which a gadget would miss...

I think these features were made available to masses before making them realize that it wasn't 100% tested (which is also impossible) and some people do not understand this.
People must realize this and should pay attention at all times.

Aircraft's also have too much automation but pilots are trained to be alert at all times. There is a reason why a pilot job exists even today i.e.. 100% machine dependence cannot be achieved today. People blindly trust these AI and land up in trouble.

If this goes this way, I won't be surprised if governments would pass laws on how to run these machines (eg: AI for hands on steering wheel and face looking ahead at all times)
In our country, I have seen people watching videos while driving even without an autopilot :Frustrati.

In such cases what do the insurance company do? Do they reject the claim?

I think its this half baked autonomous driving thats causing this. The problem is it works too well for driver to keep watching the road :) Tesla charges for this and for the future fully autonomous hardware that is already present.

Last year I was driving it and its really weird to even take hands off the steering knowing too well its not 100% foolproof. Dont know how people trust it fully

I think half of the problem is simply because of the name AUTOPILOT. The name clearly tries to imply that the system will do the driving on its own, and the symbolism is not lost on anyone. The regulators should force Tesla to change the name to something less obvious, at least till the time level 3 automation can be assured.

Since people lives are at stake that raises the most concern here, otherwise Microsoft sold Windows 95 and later on a little more matured Windows 98 which were literally beta products and end users did the testing but were damn happy. We used to make jokes that the person writing error messages in Microsoft products must be knowing the trick of how to manage emotions of people really very well.:Frustrati

Level 2 autonomous requires hands on the steering wheel. The main problem here is that the system could be fooled easily by keeping an orange or something heavy on the steering wheel. I could not fool my A6 that has the same level 2 autonomy by any means which shows the emphasis Germans give for safety.

Another thing to note is the ability to watch videos while car is moving. I don't remember any other manufacturer who has a slight sense of safety for their drivers letting you watch videos on the navigation screen while the car is in motion.

He was watching a movie on his mobile phone, not on the navigation screen. Though I believe Tesla is no less advanced in safety standards as Germans, however if there is a nut behind the wheel, who can make or break it.

What kind of advancement in safety are you talking about when in this era of car makers putting everything from speed to navigation on their instrument cluster or even on the head up display so driver is focused on the road, Tesla has gone backward in their model 3 by removing everything including the instrument cluster and putting them on the single screen on the side. That is not safe at all as it is still humans that need to drive the car.

If you take a German on the other hand, although frustrating, they don’t even allow to type in a destination on the navigation screens.

I hope nobody died in the accident and wish the victims a speedy recovery.

Truth be told, Elon makes outrageous claims and people blindly believe him due to his demi-god status. I'm sure he's (and Tesla is) well protected by the legal disclaimers in his selling contracts. We're still decades away from a situation where a car can drive without the attention of the driver.

And Tesla never said its autonomous either. I wont blame the system here which clearly says that the driver should be paying attention at all times.

Also from the pictures it looks like pre-2015 Tesla (the front is a dead giveaway) and I dont think it can be upgraded to the latest autonomous hardware.

The Germans were exactly the same except that they later started putting capacitive sensors in the steering wheel so it cant be fooled easily. I dont think Tesla puts any less emphasis on safety given their cars are the safest around.


As per the new report he was watching the video on his mobile phone, not on his nav screen. You cant do that in a Tesla.

Tesla is the only auto maker which has not invested in LiDAR and uses computer vision algorithms for its autonomous capabilities. Does this have anything to do with the crash?

Another mindless instance of over dependency on gadgets. I remember one famous dialogue from the movie Ironman. The Navy head speaks to new recruits and tells, the future of aviation could be drones and robots but if you ask me, no one can trump a man's decision and reflex. Surely, technology is being used overboard, I personally do not like the whole new digital ergonomics on the dashboard. It feels like we are driving a plane than a car.

I've always felt that such kind of tech in common cars must be accompanied with proper training and giving special license to the drivers. We've already seen people wrecking their brand new cars when switching from Manual to Auto transmission, this is even more difficult to comprehend for common people.

Is it a case that people are associating this tech in cars with Autopilots in Planes ?

I believe the reason Tesla hasn't moved to LiDAR is due to the fact that the system is heavily reliant on lane markings for steering. It may have played a role in the crash but it cannot be said with certainty.