cwerdna
Well-known member
This made the local news tonight:edatoakrun said:https://www.marketwatch.com/story/family-of-tesla-crash-victim-hires-lawyers-2018-04-11Family of Tesla crash victim hires lawyers
The family of a man who died in a fiery Mountain View, Calif., crash involving a Tesla Inc. Model X on Autopilot has hired attorneys to “explore legal options,” a San Francisco law firm said Wednesday.
The family intends to file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Tesla TSLA, -1.97% , Minami Tamaki LLP said in a blog post. A preliminary review has uncovered other complaints by other Tesla drivers of “navigational errors” by Autopilot, Tesla’s suite of advanced driver-assistance systems, Minami Tamaki said.
“The firm believes Tesla’s Autopilot feature is defective and likely caused (Walter) Huang’s death, despite Tesla’s apparent attempt to blame the victim of this terrible tragedy,” the firm said. Huang is survived by a wife and two children, according to the law firm.
Autopilot “may have misread the lane lines on the roadway, failed to detect the concrete median, failed to brake the car, and drove the car into the median,” the firm said...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-puts-blame-on-driver-in-fatal-autonomous-car-crash-2018-04-12Tesla puts blame on driver in fatal autonomous car crash
Tesla Inc. defended its semiautonomous Autopilot system in the wake of a fatal crash last month, blaming the incident on the driver after his family hired a lawyer to explore legal options.
Walter Huang died on March 23 after the Model X sport-utility vehicle he was driving southbound on Highway 101 near Mountain View, Calif., collided with a barrier and was struck by two other vehicles. The auto maker a week later said that the SUV’s Autopilot was activated in the moments leading up to the crash and that the driver’s hands weren’t detected on the wheel for six seconds before the crash.
See also: Tesla stock is due for a 36% slide, says Goldman Sachs
On Wednesday, Tesla TSLA, -1.86% more explicitly assigned blame to the driver. “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 wasn’t paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so,” a Tesla spokesman said in a statement...
TSLA's blame the driver line is wearing thin, as the fatalities pile up:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-12/tesla-draws-rebuke-for-blaming-autopilot-death-on-model-x-driverTesla Criticized for Blaming Autopilot Death on Model X Driver
Consumer-safety advocates and autonomous-vehicle experts criticized Tesla Inc. for issuing another statement about the death of a customer that pinned the blame on driver inattentiveness.
Days after publishing a second blog post about the crash involving Walter Huang, a 38-year-old who died last month in his Model X, Tesla issued a statement in response to his family speaking with San Francisco television station ABC7. The company said the “only” explanation for the crash was “if Mr. Huang was not paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so.”
“I find it shocking,” Cathy Chase, president of the group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said by phone. “They’re claiming that the only way for this accident to have occurred is for Mr. Huang to be not paying attention. Where do I start? That’s not the only way.”...
“Tesla explicitly uses data gathered from its vehicles to protect itself, even if it means going after its own customers,”...
edatoakrun said:Now that Tesla has confirmed that last week's fatal model X crash was due to autopilot error, this is probably the best thread to discuss the incident.
IMO, the biggest news is that Tesla has acknowledged that the Tesla left its lane, and proceeded toward the fatal encounter with the concrete lane divider, while under control of the AP.
AFAIK, as reported by TSLA, all previous autopilot crashes (at least all those with fatalities) occurred with undetected vehicles or objects in the vehicle's intended lane of travel.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-crash/tesla-says-crashed-vehicle-had-been-on-autopilot-prior-to-accident-idUSKBN1H7023Tesla says crashed vehicle had been on autopilot prior to accident
LOS GATOS, California (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) said on Friday that a Tesla Model X involved a fatal crash in California last week had activated its Autopilot system, raising new questions about the semi-autonomous system that handles some driving tasks.
Tesla also said vehicle logs from the accident showed no action had been taken by the driver soon before the crash and that he had received earlier warnings to put his hands on the wheel.
“The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken,” Tesla said.
The statement did not say why the Autopilot system apparently did not detect the concrete divider.
The fatal crash and vehicle fire of the Tesla near Mountain View, California, involved two other cars and delayed traffic for hours. The 38-year-old Tesla driver died at a nearby hospital shortly after the crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which launched an investigation into the crash earlier this week, did not immediately comment late Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the fatal crash.
Autopilot allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel for extended periods under certain conditions. Tesla requires users to agree to keep their hands on the wheel “at all times” before they can use autopilot, but users routinely tout the fact they can use the system to drive hands-free...
TSLA's most recent account:
https://www.tesla.com/blog/update-last-week%E2%80%99s-accident
Tesla Sued by Family of Apple Engineer Who Died in Model X Crash on Hwy. 101 in Mountain View
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Tesla-Sued-by-Family-of-Apple-Engineer-Who-Died-in-Tesla-Model-X-Crash-on-Hwy-101-in-Mountain-View-509297121.html