First Tesla Autopilot fatality

Not quite the same but I was driving a car with adaptive cruise control and I was moving along nicely on the M25 with a set 3 second gap from the car in front and suddenly a van in the middle lane clearly didn't see me and moved out into my lane, no indication or anything. He was going about 60 and I was doing nearly 80. Nearly pooed myself as the adaptive cruise control didn't even register him and carried on at normal speed. Had I been paying less attention I would have slammed into him.
 
^ what car was that?

The adaptive cruise in my Golf is very good. Even with it off it beeps loudly and applies the brakes when it senses an over speed crash situation.
 
That was a Range Rover Sport, which uses a stereoscopic camera so maybe it didn't have time to focus or something like that, I'm amazed I was able to brake in time, it was that close.
 
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Dogbreath said:
Stating that road fatalities are acceptable provided they are caused by a human driver would be a pathetic thing to say. It's therefore of no surprise that it's only you that has stated it.
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While one has to tread careful on this topic, I think it does warrant debate (i.e. comparing with 'traditional' RTAs). Last time I looked into it (2013 according to a search), something like 35-40 people are killed every week in UK RTAs, and worldwide it was something ridiculous like a million killed a year. But we've become a bit numb to it. If someone introduced a completely new mode of transport (or in fact most technologies) that was killing people in those numbers, I'm sure it would get met with a lot of resistance.

The problem automated cars have is every serious accident involving them will likely be used against them (the industry as a whole), but the converse isn't really true for human error accidents (i.e. pushing for a ban on human drivers rather than specific individuals)
 
OllyM said:
They aren't limited and usually they can legally travel at the same speed as cars, which in some places is 80mph :eek:

Most of the New Jersey Turnpike has divided 'Cars only' lanes which are quite a good idea, it's a shame it's not more widespread.
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I've been passed by them when I'm doing 80... it's rather scary, and that's where there are so many tire pieces on the road
 
I suppose it is a safefy issue, regardless of blame the computer misread the situation.

That said the beauty of automated cars is that bugs like this can be programmed out, and a software update applied to all vehicles and we should never see that particular type of incident ever again.
It's almost inevitable there will be some incidents to begin with.

The same can't be said of human drivers, where we see similar accidents all the time.
 
[TW]Fox;29729326 said:
It's also a reason for better truck safety in North America. Unlike Europe, guard rails below the trailer chassis are not a legal requirement meaning in an accident the car can ride underneath :(
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Thats because they actively encourage smokey and the bandit moves.
 
A news segment came out about this with quite a bit of detail about the incident, the driver and others who have posted autopilot videos online.

 
Still think for saying the amount of miles this system has covered fault free till now.... does any one remember the volvo auto brake system, on its demo it just plowed straight into the back of a hgv
 
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