Complex issues will surface in the courtroom like #HumanFactors, mode confusion and #AutomatedDriving system internals that, frankly, judges and juries are going to be strained to understand and appreciate.
But the #NHTSA, in its infinite wisdom, is just tickled pink to have private litigation deal with #Tesla’s vast #Autopilot wrongdoings because the agency can continue to do nothing, which they do well.
If your #NHTSA investigators are still wondering, after years of twiddling their thumbs, why #Autopilot-active, #Tesla vehicles keep slamming into the back of roadside emergency vehicles… I just provided you with the answer.
NHTSA Gives Tesla Two Weeks To Show Its Work On Autopilot And FSD
In a letter dated July 3, NHTSA asks Tesla to describe all changes to the systems in the “design, material composition, manufacture, quality control, supply, function, or installation of the subject system, from the start of production to date.”
Let's talk about #Mercedes vehicles equipped with #DrivePilot a bit - a Level 3-capable vehicle that has been recently "approved" in a handful of US states.
This article almost entirely focuses on the legal dynamics of consumer liability should this vehicle create a direct (or, presumably, an indirect) incident.
But, as always, I want to talk about what I feel are the #SystemsSafety realities at work here and the many foot-guns that are associated with that.
Now, you, as the human driver are also effectively at the mercy of #Mercedes!
The laws on the books do not matter.
And the considerable "friction" of pursuing an open-ended legal claim against Mercedes' data advantages will always work against you.
The #NTSB, the US's independent transportation safety investigator, foresaw this asymmetric data relationship as far back as 2016 - and, naturally, the US's hapless auto safety regulator, the #NHTSA, simply ignored it.
@annmlipton And here is one of the chief reasons why the #NHTSA does not challenge a dead-obvious public safety catastrophe like #Tesla’s #FSDBeta experiment.
They simply do not have to resources for a protracted legal battle with #Musk without sufficient political backing.
Musk will exhaust every avenue to maintain his wrongdoings and his future ability to expand them.
Ross Gerber, a prominent #Tesla investor and advocate that was featured in my previous thread is clearly angry that his #FSDBeta-active vehicle was observed in displaying some highly-compromising behaviors.
This conversation is telling because we have really reached the "next stage" of this vast Tesla wrongdoing - organized collusion outside of Tesla.
The "first stage" was #Tesla's nearly decade-long marketing initiative to do everything in their power to pretend that a #Tesla vehicle is capable of "driving itself" (which it is capable of anything but).
Now, the "second stage" is that Tesla community members are continuing to advance this extremely dangerous narrative (independently of Tesla) to protect their financial holdings.
The US's theoretical auto regulator, the #NHTSA, is really the party responsible for this public harm.
I was at #Chicago Pride all weekend while visiting with my wife (videos and photos soon!), so I missed this #Tesla Drama concerning #FSDBeta that erupted.
Ok.
Let us, again, all put on our #SystemsSafety hats and take a look at the situation here as I understand it.
Below is the video that kicked the beehive between Tesla defenders and detractors on "what really happened?".
This clearly chaotic video was taken from a larger drive sequence in which FSD Beta was active.
The #NHTSA, the US’s theoretical regulator for highway and vehicle safety, cannot understand my thread as an organization - and they do not want to understand it.
The #NHTSA effectively has an “unofficial” dual mandate - which includes keeping personal vehicles affordable.
Stripping out safety regulations is going to substantially lower direct vehicle costs to consumers - and so it does.
One thing that the USDOT has spent decades doing is to “blame the human driver” for everything while ripping out regulatory structures behind-the-scenes.
@KatM@chargrille@vfrmedia It is important to see the #NHTSA for what it actually is - a faux-safety regulator that is really about managing the risk to itself.
Plausible deniability is the name of the game.
So, the NHTSA wants to be ignorant to this entire conversation because… to know something means added risk to the agency.
If the shit hits the fan one day, the agency wants to say they were just in the dark.
@MisterMadge@chemoelectric I did not mention it, but there is a case that must be made that if #Tesla is willing to so brazenly engage in these uniquely extreme, overt #FSDBeta wrongdoings that the systems safety of the entire vehicle lifecycle is in serious question.
But separately, sure, per the effectively non-existent auto regulations in the US (and, largely, globally) - Tesla vehicles are allowed for sale and use.
Follow Up for the @motoringpodcast News Show covers the surprise move by NHTSA telling car companies to ignore the right-to-repair laws, all the reasoning the FTC has previously rubbished.
Lots more discussed besides. Hope you enjoy this week's episode.
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New Mass. #righttorepair law now being enforced
The law, which voters approved in 2020, requires certain vehicle information to be shared with buyers and independent repair shops. #Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell on June 1 "began enforcing the state's new right-to-repair law following years of bitter debate and a wildly expensive ballot initiative that was approved by voters in 2020." https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/06/01/right-to-repair-law-massachusetts-enforced/
The #RepublicanParty, a coalition between Big Business farmers and turkeys who'll vote for Christmas (Red Scare cowards, apocalyptic white nationalists, religious fanatics, etc) has fallen to its bizarre, violent radical wing, who obsessed pver policies that are irrelevant to the majority of Americans.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
But eventually, even the most expensive delaying tactic fails. Car manufacturers were set to come under the state right to repair rule this month, but they got a last minute reprieve, from Biden's own #NHTSA, who sent urgent letters to every major car manufacturer, telling them to ignore the Massachusetts repair law:
@CrackedWindscreen I will say this much... no other outside groups have harmed #RoadwaySafety in the US as much as the #NHTSA and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
For decades, federal #safety
regulators ignored credible scientific #research and failed to take simple steps to stop gruesome roadway crashes involving heavy #trucks.
Good work Mercedes, you’ve got my first Ledge of Fury™️ news item for next week. Probably best I’m not recording today as I’d spend many hours removing my swearing.
My disgust at the motoring industry has risen back up again.
@CrackedWindscreen Honestly, why #Ford has not forced something like #FSDBeta out and why #GM is not pushing their “Ultra Cruise” product on their new, imminent EV models is really quite incredible in the face of all of this.
Taking a break from #Musk's Hate Train on the Hellsite to recall this series of Tweets from a few years ago.
While under-appreciated then and now, the Tweet thread by Musk posted below contains an extremely damning #SystemsSafety admission and it displays the considerable #PublicSafety blind spot associated with remotely updating #SafetyCritical systems without oversight.
Musk has no clue what he admitted to here, but systems safety experts do.