Another Tesla Auto-Pilot Crashes…

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A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokeswoman said Thursday that it is collecting information from the Pennsylvania State Police, Tesla and the driver “to determine whether automated functions were in use at the time of the crash.”

The crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh left the car overturned and resting on its roof. Both the driver and the passenger were taken to the hospital and later released.

The crash raises more questions about the safety of autopilot mode. News of a fatal accidentinvolving a Tesla in autopilot mode was disclosed last week. Federal safety regulators are investigating the May 7 crash, in which a Tesla Model S hit a semi-tractor’s trailer without every trying to brake.

The driver in Friday’s crash, Detroit art gallery owner Albert Scaglione, 77, wouldn’t comment on his accident beyond the fact that he was using autopilot. But Tesla (TSLA) said it hasn’t independently confirmed who was in control of Scaglione’s Model X at the time of the crash.

“We received an automated alert from this vehicle on July 1 indicating airbag deployment, but logs containing detailed information on the state of the vehicle controls at the time of the collision were never received,” Tesla said in a statement. “This is consistent with damage of the severity reported in the press, which can cause the antenna to fail.”

The automaker added that it has been unable to contact Scaglione. “Based on the information we have now, we have no reason to believe that autopilot had anything to do with this accident.”

The accident was first reported by the Detroit Free Press.

 

6 COMMENTS

  1. With the trouble my computer has been giving me the last couple of days, I think self driving cars (that actually work) are still a ways off. Computers are not very reliable, and that issue hasn’t changed much in the last two decades (IMHO, the reliability has gone down not up lately). Too bad they will force this tech on us long before it is ready for prime time.

    • Can you imagine ‘driving’ down the road, NOT paying attention (as they say you should) and suddenly realizing the the dash board is displaying the ‘Blue Screen of Death.’ Only this time, it’s YOUR death.

    • Me, too….
      Can’t even connect to the wireless printer any more, AND I can’t see the network any more, thank you Mr. Bill. So I can’t even figure out where the problem is.

      With that sort of track record…

      Well, cars are the same way now: Used to be you could work on them and make them do things; now, you can’t touch them without a variance from the EPA just to pop the hood. And once inside, nothing is mapped, nothing has indicators, nothing talks to anything else…

      Disgusting. And it’s all by intent and design.

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