Photo: Tesla via Gas2
This weekend, Tesla announced that the Model X SUV which crashed into a highway barrier last week, killing its driver, was on Autopilot.
Moments later, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tesla’s announcement was not something it was looking forward to.
In a statement attributed to Christopher O’Neil, NTSB spokesman, and cited by Bloomberg, the safety watchdog says it is "unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla.”
“The NTSB is looking into all aspects of this crash including the driver’s previous concerns about the Autopilot.”
Tesla seems to be in a hurry to once again clear Autopilot’s name following a fiery crash. Hit from all sides with criticism, starting with the delayed deliveries of the Model 3 and ending with Elon Musk’s April 1st joke that Tesla filed for bankruptcy, the carmaker is struggling to regain its balance.
This weekend it said that though the Autopilot was engaged in the Model X, the system worked when it was supposed to. It sent several visual and one audible hands-on warnings to the driver, but the man nehind the wheel failed to react, and his hand was not on the steering wheel for six seconds before the collision.
“Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents – such a standard would be impossible – but it makes them much less likely to occur,” Tesla says, adding that you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident while driving an Autopilot enabled car.
For some reason, odds were against the driver of the Model X. His car hit a barrier, was sent back into the incoming traffic and got hit by another two cars. The ensuing fire coming from the car’s battery soon engulfed the car.
Tesla says the severity of the crash was made worse by the highway barrier, which had either been removed or crushed in a prior accident without being replaced.
In a statement attributed to Christopher O’Neil, NTSB spokesman, and cited by Bloomberg, the safety watchdog says it is "unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla.”
“The NTSB is looking into all aspects of this crash including the driver’s previous concerns about the Autopilot.”
Tesla seems to be in a hurry to once again clear Autopilot’s name following a fiery crash. Hit from all sides with criticism, starting with the delayed deliveries of the Model 3 and ending with Elon Musk’s April 1st joke that Tesla filed for bankruptcy, the carmaker is struggling to regain its balance.
This weekend it said that though the Autopilot was engaged in the Model X, the system worked when it was supposed to. It sent several visual and one audible hands-on warnings to the driver, but the man nehind the wheel failed to react, and his hand was not on the steering wheel for six seconds before the collision.
“Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents – such a standard would be impossible – but it makes them much less likely to occur,” Tesla says, adding that you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident while driving an Autopilot enabled car.
For some reason, odds were against the driver of the Model X. His car hit a barrier, was sent back into the incoming traffic and got hit by another two cars. The ensuing fire coming from the car’s battery soon engulfed the car.
Tesla says the severity of the crash was made worse by the highway barrier, which had either been removed or crushed in a prior accident without being replaced.
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