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Tesla Autopilot Detects an Accident Before It Happens

This is the title (with minor variations) that most news websites went for when the evolved traffic assitance system installed on Tesla's vehicles managed to signal there was trouble ahead on a Dutch highway.
Highway accident avoided by Tesla 4 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Highway accident avoided by TeslaHighway accident avoided by TeslaHighway accident avoided by Tesla
However, the description is highly eroneous, and is only aimed at making the Autopilot suite look like Nostradamus when in fact, it's nothing more than a very competent driver's aid system.

The dashcam footage comes from a Model X that was cruising in the second lane without the Autopilot activated. At one point, the Forward Collision Warning features emits an acoustic signal and primes the brakes for no apparent reason.

Well, if you look closely, you can see through the window of the Opel Corsa in front of the EV that the brake lights of the black SUV ahead of it lit up. It takes the Model X's system around three seconds to react, in which time a careful driver would have already slowed down and prepared for an emergency brake.

The Corsa driver, on the other hand, is much more preoccupied with switching lanes. He's probably checking the mirror at the time, because his brake lights never go off, meaning he was completely oblivious to what was going on in front of him.

As a result, having not taken into account the SUV's deceleration, he clips the rear left corner of the vehicle and sends it tumbling toward the center divider. The Tesla stops at a safe distance, as do the other cars around.

The Forward Collision Warning performed admirably, and the fact it can monitor the second car in front as well is a wonderful feature that will surely come in handy on many occasions. But to say it "predicted" the accident is stupid and shows you either don't know the meaning of the word, or you simply have an agenda to support Tesla.

No, the Model X simply knew the SUV was slowing down so it did the same. It "predicted" the line of cars would come to a stop, but unles it was a close acquaintance of the Opel Corsa driver, it couldn't possibly have known he wasn't going to stop. Praising the system - deservedly - is one thing, imagining it has magical powers is completely another.

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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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