Tesla’s Autopilot system has claimed another fatality in the United States, after the driver of a Model S crashed – in Contra Costa County, San Francisco Bay Area in California – into a large stationary fire truck on two lanes of the highway to carry out a previous rescue operation. The Authorities who are investigating are not yet able to specify whether the driver had activated the autopilot or fully autonomous driving (FSD), but the accident will certainly raise further concerns about the Autopilot system.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Tesla recorded 516 collisions involving its vehicles due to malfunctioning ADAS systems between July 1, 2021 and November 30, 2022. By comparison, during the same period, Ford reported 7 and GM only 2. This collision comes on the heels of a controversial recall of nearly 363,000 Tesla cars equipped with the Full Self-Driving beta software. The company agreed to an over-the-air update under pressure from Nhtsa.
However, the specific issues addressed in the recall would not have prevented this weekend’s fatality. The recall addresses issues with FSD regarding yellow light timing, negotiation of stop signs (which in the US can be on any road forming an intersection with right of way based on arrival time), zones variable speed and lane changes.
Source: Ansa
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