An accident which claimed the life of a driver of a Tesla
Motors Inc (TSLA.O) Model S car prompted an investigation by federal highway
safety regulators.
Joshua Brown, of Canton, Ohio was killed on May 07 in
Williston, Florida when he operated in Autopilot mode and collided with a truck.
According to government records and Tesla statement his car's
cameras failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer rig
from a brightly lit sky and didn't automatically activate its brakes.
The first person to die in a US crash involving a car in
self-driving mode was the tech-savvy 40-year-old owner of a Tesla Model S who
nicknamed his car "Tessy" and praised its sophisticated
"Autopilot" system. He also owned a technology company, Nexu
innovations.
America’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) said it is investigating the design and performance of the system
aboard 25,000 Tesla Model S sedan which are equipped with Autopilot system.
Tesla Motors Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk expressed
his grief over the fatal accident. He said in a tweet, “Our condolences for the
tragic loss.”
The investigation comes as Tesla and other automakers are
gearing up to offer systems that allow vehicles to pilot themselves under
certain conditions.
The development is going to cause consumers to second-guess
the trust they put in the booming autonomous vehicle industry.
Frank Baressi, 62, the driver of the tractor-trailer and
owner of Okemah Express LLC, said the Tesla driver was "playing Harry
Potter on the TV screen" and driving so quickly that "he went so fast
through my trailer I didn't see him." Tesla Motors Inc. said it is not
possible to watch videos on the Model S touch screen.
This isn't the first time we've seen a potential issue with
Autopilot not being able to sense obstructions of a certain height. Earlier
this year a Model S owner claimed that his Autopilot-equipped car crashed
itself into a trailer.
Model S's Autopilot system relies on a forward-facing radar
and camera to see obstacles, and though it can be easy for humans to lose an
object against the sky, a tractor trailer is a very big object to miss if you
are actively engaged in the driving experience.
This accident will add fuel to a debate within the auto
industry and in legal circles over the safety of systems that take partial
control of steering and braking from drivers.
There have been instances of the Autopilot preventing
incidents, there have also been numerous smaller accidents and even reports of
drivers sleeping while at the wheel.