Tesla, which produces the world's most popular electric cars, is famous not only for this, but also for the introduction of the first autopilot available on the market. Large automobile concerns So far, they are only testing such technologies, adding only some of their components to commercial products: automatic parking, tracking the car in front, intelligent braking in emergency situations. Tesla was the first in the market to risk releasing an autopilot to the masses, and the first to suffer from this. We have collected five cases where Tesla cars got into major accidents.
First fatality involving Tesla vehicles. There are many mysteries in this story. Almost 2 months passed between the incident and its public publicity. During this time period, Elon Musk sold over $2 billion worth of shares, earning a decent amount of money. Naturally, after information about the accident became public, Tesla shares fell sharply in price.
Tesla acknowledged the autopilot error in the accident. The autopilot was unable to identify the truck's white trailer on the road, and the vehicle simply ran under it. The driver died on the spot. According to some reports, the driver behind the wheel of the Tesla X was watching a movie, which did not allow him to react in time to traffic situation.
The latest public incident involving Tesla vehicles took place earlier this month in the city of Indianapolis. Casey Speckman, who was driving, and her future husband Kevin McCarthy crashed into a tree at full speed. The woman died on the spot, and the passenger in the hospital. The main version of what happened: excess speed limit. The autopilot had nothing to do with this accident. On the contrary, it would not allow the car to develop such a speed if it was turned on.
This crash showed another problem with Tesla cars. When mechanical damage batteries, they explode and release a huge amount of heat. put them out by conventional means very problematic, it is necessary to have special chemicals, plain water you can't do it here.
Tesla Model S and a motorcyclist (October 12, 2016)
An incident that occurred in October in Norway. A Tesla car in autopilot mode hit a motorcyclist on the road. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the case itself caused heated discussion among experts. Elon Musk's company received another round of criticism and accusations that it did not test the autopilot enough, forgetting about road users such as motorcyclists and cyclists. Tesla acknowledged the problem, promising to improve the mechanism for recognizing small vehicles.
The most ridiculous accident involving Tesla cars happened in Montana this summer. A Chinese man named Pan, accelerated in his Tesla X on a mountainous stretch of road at night, turned on the autopilot and took his hands off the steering wheel. The car, of course, began to warn of an emergency, but the negligent driver did nothing, calmly crashing into a bump stop. When asked by the policeman why he did nothing, Mr. Pan replied that he did not speak English well and could not understand what the autopilot wanted from him. Tesla has repeatedly warned that its automatic system piloting is only suitable for motorways and city roads, therefore, in this case The fault lies entirely with the driver.
Tesla Model S, driving on autopilot in Germany, crashed into a bus. The passengers of the bus were not injured, but the driver of the electric car received minor injuries. The incident occurred almost immediately after updating the autopilot to version 8.0. As shown by the police investigation, the driver of the bus was to blame for the accident, who turned untimely into the lane of cars, where he is forbidden by law.
As you can see, any accident involving Tesla cars immediately attracts public attention. Many people want to convict Elon Musk's company that their technologies are dangerous for the lives of traffic participants, but, as practice shows, Tesla autopilot more often saves the lives of drivers than leads to emergencies on the roads. In many cases of accidents where Tesla cars appear, it is not the automatic control system that is to blame, but the drivers who drove the car themselves. Tesla's autopilot isn't perfect yet. But it is designed not to replace the driver, but to be his assistant, helping in situations where the human reaction is not enough to properly respond to the traffic situation. No matter how experts criticize Tesla, the American company is doing a great job for the personal car market and road safety.
The magazines have yet to be retrieved due to the severe damage to the electric vehicle, but Tesla has released details of the crash.
- Because of severe damage caused by the collision, we were unable to retrieve the logs.
- We are working closely with the authorities to recover the logs from the computer.
- Our data shows that an electric vehicle has driven ~85,000 times on Autopilot in this section since 2015 and 20,000 times since the beginning of the year without incident. Every day 200 successful trips on Autopilot.
- The reason for such a strong collision is a dividing fence to reduce the impact. It was either removed or broken without replacement. The figure shows the normal state and the day before the incident. We've never seen such a deformation of the Model X before.
- Batteries are designed so that on the rare occasions when a fire occurs, it spreads slowly. Passengers have enough time to get out of the car. According to witnesses, it is similar to what happened here. By the time the fire could pose a danger to the driver, the Model X was already empty. Damage can lead to a fire, regardless of the type of vehicle. gas car in the United States five times more fire prone than a Tesla electric car.
After the Tesla X crash,
So fatal, which hit the Model S electric hatchback under the guidance of the autopilot. National Security Administration traffic(NHTSA) has already launched an investigation into this case.
The accident occurred on May 7 in North Florida at the intersection of the U.S. Route 27 Alt. on NE 140th Ct in the city of Williston. Tesla, driven by 45-year-old Ohio resident Joshua Brown, collided with a road train that drove into an intersection. The severe consequences are explained by the fact that the collision took place in the middle of a high semi-trailer - that is, the Tesla hit not the front end, but the racks windshield. According to research American Insurance Institute road safety(IIHS), this is one of the most dangerous collisions.
Why didn't the autopilot "see" this obstacle? After all, neither the automation nor the driver himself used the brakes. At first, Tesla assumed that both Brown and the autopilot had missed the white trailer against the bright sunny sky. However, this version looked at least incomplete: after all, the Tesla Model S autopilot system focuses not only on the “image” from the optical camera of the Israeli company Mobileye, but also on the readings of the long-range radar and ultrasonic sensors ...
Mobileye spokesman Dan Galvis issued a statement that their system "Sharpened" solely to avoid a passing collision. The ability to recognize the exit in a transverse course will be implemented only in 2018.
On it in Tesla they answered that the current version of the software, which appeared in January 2016, is also capable of independently braking the car at the sight of obstacles of any type - if at the same time their radar signature fits into certain parameters. And the radar picture from the high side of the truck probably looked like road sign, which are often mounted above the highway - such signals are ignored by the autopilot.
There was also a convincing version of why the driver did not see the truck that had left. In an interview with The Associated Press, truck driver Frank Baressi claims Tesla's driver watched a movie on a portable DVD player during the trip. The police have not yet confirmed this fact, but the player is indeed on the list of items seized from the scene.
The deceased Joshua Brown was previously extremely pleased with Tesla's autopilot. On his YouTube channel 23 self-driving videos have been published, and we used a frame from one video as the title image for this article.
Note that Tesla has already been in the news for a similar reason: in April, the Model S hatchback in Summon self-parking mode collided with a high trailer for building materials. However, at that time, due to minimum speed everything was limited to a broken windshield. It seems that high obstacles are indeed a problem for Tesla. It is possible that two cameras could help Tesla, as on the new Mercedes E-class - they allow the autopilot to form volume picture.
Tesla representatives say that all information available to them about the accident in Florida has already been transferred to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has launched an investigation into the incident. The NHTSA needs to find out if autopilot worked correctly and if a recall of vehicles is required. Tesla and the head of the company, Elon Musk, offered their condolences to the family of the deceased driver.
As we have already , on March 23, a tragic accident occurred on the highway near Mountain View with Tesla Model X - an electric car on high speed crashed into a concrete divider, after which he collided with cars Mazda brands and Audi. The driver of the Model X died in hospital from his injuries. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into the accident, and the media reported that the deceased driver repeatedly complained about the failure of the Tesla autopilot. And last night, Tesla cleared up the Autopilot point.
After analyzing data collected from the on-board PC of the destroyed Model X, the manufacturer confirmed that the autopilot function was turned on at the time of the collision.
Shortly before the collision, the driver received several visual alerts and one audible alert, according to Tesla. warning signal calling to take the wheel. The on-board PC data indicates that the autopilot was in control of the car six seconds before impact with the separator, and the driver did not hold on to the separator at all. steering wheel. The manufacturer also claims that the driver had at least five seconds and an unobstructed view of 150 meters ahead to avoid a collision, but, judging by the records of the on-board PC, there was no action.
In addition, it is separately noted that the consequences of the collision were so devastating because the energy-absorbing barrier fence was destroyed in a previous accident and repair it road services haven't made it yet.
Recall that the collision was so strong that it led to the ignition of the block batteries, designed in such a way as to prevent such an outcome.
“We have never seen such a severe level of damage to a Model X after a crash,” the manufacturer said in the first statement.
Unfortunately, Tesla does not provide data on the speed at which the car was moving, but it was clearly high.
Tesla recognizes that its autopilot is imperfect, while emphasizing the superiority of its own solution over alternative driver assistance systems. Referring to WHO statistics (every year 1.25 million people die in road accidents around the world), the company notes that with the current level of safety Tesla cars could potentially save about 900 thousand human lives. In other words, if only Teslas drove around the world, then the number of deaths on the roads would decrease by more than 70%. The company expects that in the future self-driving cars will be 10 times safer than cars managed by people.
These statements cannot be called absurd, especially given the many cases where the Tesla autopilot, which is still being developed, has saved human lives and prevented various kinds of collisions. In addition, do not forget that serial unmanned vehicles do not yet exist on the market; at this stage, all autonomous driving technologies are only being developed and perfected.
On the other hand, the recent case of self-managed Uber and the current one with the Model X raise a lot of questions. In the case of the Model X, it is not clear why the system did not react at all and allowed the car to hit the separator in broad daylight. At least the system should have worked. emergency braking. The manufacturer does not give any additional explanations yet. It is foolish to deny that self-driving cars are our future, but one thing is clear now: the corresponding technologies are still too “raw” and recent mistakes at the cost of human lives will slow down their development, no matter how sad it may be. In other words, Tesla cars or any other cars that drive freely without a driver throughout the US or any other country will not appear soon. However, I would like to be wrong.
Tesla releases performance analysis results onboard systems crossover Model X shortly before the tragic accident last Friday, March 23.
Recall that a fatal traffic accident on Highway 101 in Mountain View (California). The electric car crashed into a concrete divider at high speed, after which it collided with two more cars. As a result of a terrible blow, the Model X crossover completely lost its front end, in addition, a fire occurred. battery pack. The driver was taken to the hospital, but he died from his injuries.
As Tesla now reports, before the collision, the crossover was moving on autopilot. The driver shortly before the accident received several visual and one sound signal about the need to hold the steering wheel with your hands. However, for six seconds before the collision with the separator, the sensors did not fix the motorist's hands on the steering wheel.
The electric car manufacturer claims that the driver had approximately five seconds and an unobstructed view from a distance of 150 meters to avoid a collision, but no action was taken.
It is also noted that the consequences of the collision were so devastating because the so-called "impact attenuator" on the separator was destroyed as a result of an earlier accident. And the road services did not have time to replace it with a new one.
Tesla emphasizes that in no other accident has Model X crossovers received such serious damage. In any case, the company claims, the autopilot in current form cannot prevent all possible accidents, but it greatly reduces their likelihood.
However, it is still not clear why the Model X's numerous sensors allowed the car to run over the divider. After all, theoretically, the car was supposed to fix its presence and at least make emergency braking.
