'Operational limitations' played a role inTesla Autopilot crash 'Operational limitations' played a role in Tesla Autopilot crash
1:08 PM ET Tue, 12 Sept 2017 | 01:00
The "operational limitations" of Tesla's Autopilot system played a "major role" in a 2016 crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday.
NTSB investigators met to determine the cause of a fatal crash involving a Tesla on Autopilot in May 2016.
After meeting for roughly 2½ hours Tuesday, the board determined the probable cause of the accident was a combination of a semitrailer driver failing to yield the right of way to the Tesla driver, the Tesla driver's overreliance on the car's Autopilot system, and certain design limitations in the Autopilot system that failed to adequately warn the Tesla driver of the approaching truck.
I just want to touch on the fact that these tech companies like Tesla are pushing products on the market that haven't been fully tested or maybe dangerous to use in certain circumstances. These self driving cars have along way to go before I would deem them safe in my mind but the government doesn't seem to be concerned with the risks and is pushing laws to allow self driving cars all across the US. Clearly our politicians are being heavily lobbied by the tech companies to just ram legislation through the system as fast as possible with no fore thought into the consequences.
So the main problem in the crash according to Tesla was the type of road their autopilot system was being used on wasn't suitable for engaging the autopilot. Which I totally understand if it's meant for interstate highways vs back country roads because there's a big difference in driving on one vs the other. However, with all the technology built into these cars and known road limitation these autopilots have why in the world isn't Tesla using a GPS system that tells the driver of the car what roads the autopilot will work on and what roads it won't work on.
Sounds simple enough to have that type of safety system in place but maybe Tesla isn't concerned about peoples safety and more concerned about selling cars. Sounds like a great case for a lawsuit against them.