Tag: Tesla Autopilot

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Tesla ruled ‘not at fault’ in Model S Autopilot crash lawsuit

Tesla has defeated a lawsuit claiming the company’s Autopilot feature was at fault for a single-car crash in 2019.

As reported by Reuters, a California state court jury determined that Tesla’s driver-assistance feature, known as Autopilot, did not cause a crash that led to the driver receiving nerve damage, a fractured jaw and missing teeth.

The initial lawsuit was issued by Los Angeles resident Justine Hsu, who claimed that her Model S swerved into a curb while on Autopilot. She sued for over $3 million in damages, claiming that the software and Tesla’s airbags were defective.

The EV company denied responsibility for the accident and looked to its software user manual as a defence. Sure enough, the manual advises against the practice of using Autopilot on city streets, which is what Hsu was doing before the crash. No damages were awarded to Hsu, saying the automaker “did not intentionally fail to disclose facts about Autopilot.”

The results of the lawsuit won’t be legally binding in other cases but are expected to be used how to inform lawyers to tackle future incidents involving driver-assisted technology.

Despite winning the case, Tesla’s Autopilot feature still has a stigma surrounding the legitimacy and safety of the software. The company remains under investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for Autopilot collisions involving parked emergency vehicles.

In other Autopilot news, a federal investigation is ongoing after a Model S accident left three passengers dead.

Image credit: Tesla

Source: Reuters Via: Engadget

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Tesla engineer admits 2016 Autopilot video was staged

A Tesla video from 2016 that the company used to demonstrate its vehicles’ ability to drive and park by itself, automatically stop at Red lights and accelerate at Green was reportedly staged.

As claimed by Ashok Elluswamy, director of Autopilot software at Tesla, in a deposition for a fatal 2018 Tesla crash, the Model X in the 2016 video “was not driving itself with technology Tesla had deployed.” Further, other unnamed Tesla employees say the route the vehicle took in the video had already been pre-mapped, and that the Model X featured in the video even crashed during filming.

The video starts off with a tagline saying, “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.” The video shows a person taking their vehicle to a Tesla office park. Upon arrival, the driver is shown exiting the vehicle, following which their Tesla drives itself around the parking lot before parallel parking between two other Teslas.

Elluswamy testified that the video was not an accurate portrayal of a Tesla’s self-driving capabilities at the time, and that “the intent of the video was not to accurately portray what was available for customers in 2016. It was to portray what was possible to build into the system.”

Elluswamy’s testimony is part of a lawsuit filed by the family of software engineer Walter Huang, who was killed in a Tesla crash in 2018. Huang’s family is suing Tesla, arguing that the Autopilot feature on his Tesla caused the accident.

This isn’t the first time a crash has resulted in Tesla coming into the spotlight. It has been the centre of several legal cases and investigations surrounding its Autopilot advanced driver assistance system. The U.S. Department of Justice initiated a criminal investigation into Tesla’s claims after a number of crashes involving Autopilot were reported.

Source: Reuters

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Another Ontario Tesla driver caught dozing behind the wheel

Back in September 2022, a video came out that showed a Tesla driver taking a nap behind the wheel with their seat reclined while their vehicle was going faster than 100 km/hr on the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in St. Catharines.

Similarly, a different Tesla Model S driver, in September 2020, was charged for being asleep behind the wheel while their vehicle was driving at speeds of 150 km/hr.

You’d imagine that Tesla drivers would be more careful, and avoid sleeping at the wheel after those instances, but you’d be wrong. Another Canadian Tesla driver has been filmed sleeping at the wheel, with full faith in their vehicle’s Autopilot feature.

A video posted on Toronto-based Instagram account ‘Cara De Shaukeen,’ shows a lone male driver in a blue Tesla apparently asleep behind the wheel while driving on Highway 401 near Bayview Avenue in Toronto. The driver’s eyes are closed, and his head is tilted back as though he is asleep, while the car seems to be driving itself in the middle lane next to other vehicles.

The person behind the ‘Cara De Shaukeen’ account clarified that the video was shot by a passenger in another vehicle, and not by the account owner themselves, as reported by BlogTO.

Tesla’s Autopilot feature is meant to assist drivers in maneuvering through the road, not take over complete control. While the feature supports adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, self-parking and more, drivers are supposed to stay attentive and have their hands on the steering wheel at all times when the mode is engaged.

Source: Cara De Shaukeen Via: BlogTO

In case the vehicle detects that the driver isn’t attentive, it asks the driver to put their hands on the steering wheel.

It is currently unknown if the driver of the Blue Testla would face any charges.

Source: carra_de_shaukeen, via: BlogTO

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Ontario Tesla driver recorded going 100 km/hr while napping

A Canadian Tesla driver appears to have full faith in the vehicle’s Autopilot feature.

A video came out on Friday, September 2nd, that showed a Tesla driver taking a nap behind the wheel with their seat reclined backwards, while their vehicle was going faster than 100 km/hr on the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in St. Catharines, as reported by Global News.

Louise Lesser, a passenger in a different vehicle, captured the footage around 7am on Friday morning, and said that “my boyfriend, who was driving at the time, noticed that the car near him, that he could see in his rearview, almost looked like there was nobody in it. And I didn’t believe him,” in a statement given to Global News. “And then he looked again and he’s like, ‘No, there’s someone in it. But it looks like they’re sleeping.”

Tesla’s Autopilot feature is meant to assist drivers in maneuvering through the road, not take over complete control. While the feature supports adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, self-parking and more, drivers are supposed to stay attentive and have their hands on the steering wheel at all times when the mode is engaged.

In case the vehicle detects that the driver isn’t attentive, it asks the driver to put their hands on the steering wheel. According to Lesser’s claim, this couldn’t be possible. She said, “his seat was insanely far back. I don’t think he could have reached his steering wheel if he tried.”

Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told Global News the driver can “absolutely” face charges, though the case isn’t currently under investigation as no formal complaint has been filed. “Right now, as much as we enjoy technology in vehicles and we’re getting more and more features within vehicles that assist drivers, there is still the requirement for there to be alert, attentive and an eyes-open driver in the driver’s seat with their hands on the wheel, ready to respond,” Schmidt said.

Back in September 2020, a Canadian Tesla Model S owner was charged for being asleep behind the wheel while their vehicle was driving at speeds of 150 km/hr. Read more about the incident via the link below:


Canadian Tesla owner charged for sleep-driving at speeds of 150 km/h


Canadian Tesla owner charged for sleep-driving at speeds of 150 km/h

A Tesla Model S owner has been charged with being asleep behind the wheel at speeds of 150 km/h.


Read Now

Header image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Global News

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Tesla says its Autopilot prevents roughly 40 accidents per day

Recently, a report came out that showed Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ (FSD) Beta technology failing to recognize children on the road, which raised concerns about the software’s safety as the company makes it available to more users. While Autopilot isn’t the same as FSD, Tesla is claiming that its autopilot feature is preventing roughly 40 accidents per day wherein the drivers press the accelerator when they should have stepped on the breaks, as reported by DriveTeslaCanada (DTC).

This is the first time Tesla has been able to quantify how many accidents Autopilot prevents. Tesla’s Director of Autopilot software Ashok Elluswamy talked about accident prevention during a presentation at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR) in June, and also shared a video showcasing how autopilot automatically hits the breaks when the driver mistakenly accelerates.

Considering that this specific type of accident is very common, preventing 40 of those per day, in terms of data, is highly impressive, and adds up to 14,600 accidents prevented in a year.

Elluswamy’s presentation also dives into its ‘Occupancy Networks,’ which, according to him, “predicts volumetric occupancy of all the things around a car,” allowing the vehicle to make human-like maneuvers and avoid other vehicles and obstacles on the road. You can check out the full presentation in the embedded video below:

Source: @aelluswamy Via: DriveTeslaCanada