One feature that Elon Musk loves to brag about regarding Tesla and their cars is Autopilot. It is a feature that is still relatively new, but it's slowly but surely getting worked on. Essentially it does what it says on the tin. It allows the car to drive itself, although it is not intended as an outright replacement for the driver. You still have to be ready to step in as the system is really not faultless.
That is something is now on full show after an accident across a bridge in San Francisco. According to various reports including from ABC 7 News, a Tesla on full self-driving mode caused a huge eight-car crash across the Bay Bridge. Now, this doesn’t look like a classic case of the driver wasn’t aware of what was going on. This looks more like the self-driving system braked unexpectedly, triggering the mass pileup. What the incident does show though is that despite Musk’s bragging, the system is not really fit for purpose. Self-driving clearly has a long way to go before it can be fully implemented.
How The Accident Across The Bridge Ensued
The ABC report covers the crash in great detail. The driver involved in the incident issued a statement with the authorities that the self-driving system in the Tesla Model S was to blame. According to him, the software caused the car to brake unexpectedly. This then caused the eight-car pileup across the bridge. The accident left nine people needing treatment for minor injuries. A juvenile was involved among the victims and was in fact hospitalized after the accident. This comes from a California Highway Patrol traffic crash report. Videos also show the accident. According to these, the Tesla was changing lanes before it suddenly slowed to a stop.
According to the California Highway Patrol in their report from December 7th, they could not confirm if full self-driving was active at the time of the crash. Tesla would be the ones that had that information to hand. In a twist of irony, the accident took place after Elon Musk had said that anyone who requested for the “full-self driving” service, the system was available them in the North American region. Previously, the system was of course restricted to drivers with high safety records on its safety system. It probably isn’t a coincidence that this has all happened just after Musk’s announcement. It's certainly not a good look.
A Very Serious Pileup Involving The Tesla
The accident took place on Thanksgiving at around lunchtime. The incident created a major traffic congestion on Interstate 80, east of the Bay Bridge. Such was the severity of the accident that two lanes of traffic were in fact closed for 90 minutes. Four ambulances were summoned to the scene of the incident. All of this while people tried to get to their various holiday events that day. The Tesla Model S involved was traveling at around 55 mph at the time of the accident. It then shifted into the far left-hand lane but braked abruptly to around 20 mph.
This, as you can imagine, set off a chain reaction. That chain reaction involved a total of eight vehicles and all of them were traveling at your typical highway speed. Tesla themselves say that the self-driving system does require an attentive human driver who is ready to take full control at any moment. The system should keep up with traffic, steer in the lane plus abide by traffic signals. However, Tesla also says that it “may do the wrong thing at the worst time” and that looks like exactly what happened in this instance. And the driver may not have had his eye on the ball.
A Terrible Advert For The Self-Driving System
This is hardly a good advert for the fully-driving part of the self-driving system. Nor is it a good advert for the system as a whole. Again, just hours after Musk announced it was available for everyone. This incident might cause the Tesla CEO to reevaluate that approach. Uninstalling the system off cars though is easier said than done. As Musk is trying to push this as one of the core parts of the Tesla software experience, he could have done without this. But it shows just how immature the system really is.
Investigations Into “Full Self-Driving” Are Ongoing
It won’t come as a surprise to learn that Tesla’s driver-assist technologies, including full-self driving, are under investigation by the NHTSA. This is following more reports of the unexpected braking that took place during this incident. This seems to happen without warning, at random and usually in a single drive more than once. The NHTSA have reportedly received hundreds of complaints from owners and drivers of Tesla vehicles. Many have described some near misses leading to a lot of concerns about their own safety, and this could in fact trigger a recall. Whatever happens after this could decide the future of this contentious piece of technology.
Source: ABC 7 News