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Tesla Auto Parking System Screws Up, the Wheels Take the Damage

Automated parking systems have been around for years, so you'd think there was plenty of time to perfect them to the point where nothing bad can happen. Well, think again.
Failed auto park aftermath 1 photo
Photo: Chris Herschend via Facebook
I can think of mass production cars being able to park themselves all the way back to 2009, which is eight years ago now. Since then we've had countless technological advancements in our vehicles, not least of which being the myriad of sensors modern cars come equipped with.

Few of them have more than the Teslas sold this side of November 2016, when the company introduced the Autopilot 2 hardware on all of its vehicles. Both the Model S and the Model X got radar, ultrasonic sensors and more cameras than you can find around the field during Superbowl.

Elon Musk claimed this arrangement was enough to, one day, enable the vehicles to drive completely autonomously, and even though the vast majority of the competition (read "all") believes that would require a LIDAR sensor as well, few were willing to doubt the man who singlehandedly sparked the electric revolution.

Well, they may be more inclined to do so now after the owner of a Model S had a very nasty encounter with a curb while his vehicle was attempting to park by itself. Admittedly, even though he doesn't openly say it, it does seem as though he was driving an older car, one that was equipped with the original Autopilot suite.

But even so, Musk wasn't short of praise words for that system either, and now we see it incapable of performing a simple, low-speed task among stationary objects.

The culprit here was a "very low curb" that the car's sensors failed to pick up as an obstacle and drove right into it. The aftermath you can see in the picture posted by the owner of the EV, Chris Herschend. The wheel appears to be more than just scratched, with a possible bend in the wheel as well.

Of course, it is the driver's duty to remain observant and intervene at any point he deems necessary during the automated maneuver, so, unfortunately, Chris only has himself to blame. At least officially, that is.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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