In a new statement released by Tesla, the carmaker has blamed the driver, Walter Huang, for last month’s fatal crash involving a Tesla Model X in Autopilot mode. During the incident on March 23, 2018, the 38-year-old was killed when his Model X crashed into a freeway divider on Highway 101 near Mountain View, California and proceeded to catch fire.
“According to the family, Mr. Huang was well aware that Autopilot was not perfect and, specifically, he told them it was not reliable in that exact location, yet he nonetheless engaged Autopilot at that location,” said Tesla.
“The crash happened on a clear day with several hundred feet of visibility ahead, which means that the only way for this accident to have occurred is if Mr. Huang was not paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so,” it continued.
Previously, Tesla publicised information obtained from the vehicle’s computer logs, where it was revealed the driver’s hands were not detected on the steering wheel for six seconds prior to the collision.
It added that the system had actively provided several visual and one audible hands-on warnings earlier in the drive, but these were not heeded. Additionally, it said the driver had about five seconds and 150 metres of unobstructed view of the concrete divider, but zero action was taken to prevent the crash.
“Tesla is extremely clear that Autopilot requires the driver to be alert and have hands on the wheel. This reminder is made every single time Autopilot is engaged. If the system detects that hands are not on, it provides visual and auditory alerts. This happened several times on Mr. Huang’s drive that day,” the carmaker explained.
Some outlets have blamed the Autopilot system for being incapable of operating properly in certain settings. Another Tesla owner has since come out to detail his non-fatal crash in September 2017, which is pretty similar to Huang’s incident.
Unlike the crash that killed Huang, the safety barrier was in working order, and the driver walked away uninjured. Jim McPherson of SafeSelfDrive told ABC7 News reporter Dan Noyes that “the low sun angle could also pose a problem for the cameras that Tesla uses to drive.”
For now, the U.S. National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) are still performing their investigations, and Bloomberg reports that Huang’s family is exploring legal options. “We empathize with Mr. Huang’s family, who are understandably facing loss and grief, but the false impression that Autopilot is unsafe will cause harm to others on the road,” Tesla said.
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Too stupid to blame driver. Tesla system is immature n sux. Tesla never wanna accept blame for their immature system. Big BOOOOO! Require hand on steering wheel then dont name it “autopilot”! Ban autopilot on car. Tesla better go bankrupt soon.
Sounds like Proton. Always blaming the whole world but themselves.
What makes you think it’s “sux”?? Have you driven a Tesla before?
“Tesla blames driver of Model X” how typical. Some suspects if Elon was replace by a T-800.
feel sorry for such incident. however that bring us to question, autonomous driving no doubt is progressing fast, but do we really need to be driven by AI, or by our own self. for the former it is safer to take a bus.
Public transports > all
Artificial Intelligence(AI) cannot replace Human Intelligence(HI) 100% :P
What was the guy doing before the crash that required him to take his eyes off the road and hands off the steering wheel? Texting? Smule? Sleeping? Anyways, putting his life on technologies that he knew were glitched was careless to say the least. The only positive is no other people was hurt…
What about his frens and famili?
maybe his frens and famili are fighting each other who shall inheritance of his death insurance millions dollars claim?
Only if Tesla fails to prove that their at fault.
IF U have Life insurance, the insurance company will pay FULL regardless. As for Personal Accident Insurance, the insurance company will still pay. That is why it is called an “accident” Policy.
Read the fine print. If the eksiden due to driver negligence, they can REFUSE to payout.
In the US, accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) is a policy that pays benefits to the beneficiary if the cause of death is an accident.
The driver may be at fault for not following instruction but the main problem is still with Tesla.If they knew the system is not perfect but it is capable of detecting high risks situations, especially when there is still no response from the driver even after repeated warnings, the system should already initiate a shut down sequence to safely bring the vehicle to a stop instead of continue to drive until it hits something & blame it on the driver.Without this feature, all Tesla should be banned from public roads as it could also endanger other road users because it is also possible that the driver may have slept or unconscious while the vehicle is moving under auto pilot mode.Are they going to blame the driver again for being unconscious?It shows that Tesla is doesn’t care so much about safety & not taking any accountability for their own mistakes.Not doing sufficient studies to minimise safety risks is clearly their problem.They’re only interested in sales.
you are stupid, that’s a highway if the car stop or shutdown out of nowhere wouldn’t be fatal too since the car behind him will hit his back tesla? you can’t just shutdown or stop in the middle of the road.
Haha good point
Leslie Avenue..
U have showcased that you have the intelligence of a doorknob with ur statement.
Please reflect on yourself before calling others stupid.
That’s an unreasonable position to take. What you are saying is if you buy a car that has a semi-autonomous mode, you waive the right to use common sense and drive the car? I’ve heard a lot of ‘What’s the point of buying Tesla is I have to drive the car myself?’ arguments. That’s crazy! You are buying an electric car that has a semi-autonomous mode. It’s like cruise control and the steering wheel moves to follow the road. The tech is not perfect as it has to detect the ‘road’ like painted line and dividers etc. So your hands are always on the wheel but you can relax, for the most part. That’s how I drive long distance in these things and I’m very happy with the performance of the car. Don’t buy an oven and expect it to bake the cake for you.
If driver still have to concentrate on the road, monitoring the safety, it just does not mean it’s a total driverless car. It still needs the driver to be err, even if it is a 24 hour journey!
If driver still have to concentrate on the road, monitoring the safety, it just does not mean it’s a total driverless car. It still needs the driver to be alert, even if it is a 24 hour journey!
Tesla should do research on automatic signal when want to change lane or overtake or going into intersection which is very useful here in Malaysia since the signal stalk is the most expensive part in the car.
We have auto cruise in our cars for a long time. This autopilot is in fact just a name for a more advance auto cruise. These drivers are just plain stupid to take their hands off the wheel.
Tesla blames driver because dead men tell no tales.
In all its sophistication, why can’t the autopilot slow the car down or stop it entirely if after it’s warnings to the driver were not addressed?
The autopilot puts u in a relaxed state where u have minimal interaction with the car so it’s no surprise that a person could fall asleep at the wheel.
Tesla’s response is, if our technology puts u to sleep and u die then it is your fault. Sounds like a cutting edge responsible company eh?
In cases where the driver is having a stroke or a heart attack while operating the car alone, the driver loses his ability to accelerate/decellerate/brake.
Although nowhere near safe, the driver doesn’t accelerate the car making it faster thus increasing the risk of death or bodily harm in the impending crash.
With tesla’s autopilot, it will buzz my seat and let out a few beeps while maintaining my highway speed until I crash into something? The tesla has autonomous braking but decided that nah I’ll just hit this barrier at 100 mph to wake the driver up?
C’mon something doesn’t add up.