Photo: NC Highway Patrol
Tesla is often criticized for naming its driver-assist tech Autopilot because, regardless of the fine print and repeated warnings, drivers do tend to take the name literally. Like this dude from North Carolina, who was watching a movie while the car “drove itself.”
Cases of accidents involving Teslas on Autopilot get more media attention specifically for this reason: Tesla is admittedly deceiving customers into buying cars that claim to be able to drive themselves. And then they slam into other cars, like a police cruiser pulled over on the side of the highway.
It happened on August 26, on Highway 64 West, outside Nashville, in North Carolina. The driver who caused it was driving an earlier model of the Model S, with the first version of Autopilot running. As per his own admission, he was watching a movie on his phone, when his car veered right into a Nash County police vehicle with the lights on, stopped on the side of the road.
The cruiser was there to lend assistance to an NC Highway Patrol trooper’s car, which, in turn, was responding to the scene of another crash. The impact was so powerful it sent the cruiser into the trooper’s car, which, in turn, knocked both officers to the ground.
The silver lining is that no one was hurt, even though both the Tesla and the police cruiser were totaled in the crash. The Tesla driver has been charged with several counts, including a “move-over law violation” (in North Carolina, there’s a law saying you have to move into the next lane if another vehicle is making an emergency stop) and watching “television” while at the wheel.
“It was a simple lane closure and then suddenly death was at our footsteps,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone tells CBS17. “It shows automation is never going to take the place of the motoring public paying attention, not texting, not being on the phone, but focusing on what you were doing, that is, driving.”
Without casting too bleak a light on the future of automation, the Sheriff is right about two things: this was the driver’s fault, and right now, no car can safely drive itself while you nap, watch a movie, or catch up on work. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is positive full automation (Level 5 autonomy) is pretty much around the corner, but until that happens, drivers are obligated to keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road, ready at a second’s notice to take over from the system. Even in Teslas.
It happened on August 26, on Highway 64 West, outside Nashville, in North Carolina. The driver who caused it was driving an earlier model of the Model S, with the first version of Autopilot running. As per his own admission, he was watching a movie on his phone, when his car veered right into a Nash County police vehicle with the lights on, stopped on the side of the road.
The cruiser was there to lend assistance to an NC Highway Patrol trooper’s car, which, in turn, was responding to the scene of another crash. The impact was so powerful it sent the cruiser into the trooper’s car, which, in turn, knocked both officers to the ground.
The silver lining is that no one was hurt, even though both the Tesla and the police cruiser were totaled in the crash. The Tesla driver has been charged with several counts, including a “move-over law violation” (in North Carolina, there’s a law saying you have to move into the next lane if another vehicle is making an emergency stop) and watching “television” while at the wheel.
“It was a simple lane closure and then suddenly death was at our footsteps,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone tells CBS17. “It shows automation is never going to take the place of the motoring public paying attention, not texting, not being on the phone, but focusing on what you were doing, that is, driving.”
Without casting too bleak a light on the future of automation, the Sheriff is right about two things: this was the driver’s fault, and right now, no car can safely drive itself while you nap, watch a movie, or catch up on work. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is positive full automation (Level 5 autonomy) is pretty much around the corner, but until that happens, drivers are obligated to keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road, ready at a second’s notice to take over from the system. Even in Teslas.
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