“the report called out Tesla as an “industry outlier” because its driver assistance features lacked some of the basic precautions taken by its competitors. ”
“Tesla Autopilot Was Uniquely Risky—and May Still Be”
Incredible that Elon Musk been saying Tesla is on the cusp on mastering self-driving for a decade, it’s still nowhere in sight, and he still tells investors if they don’t “believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company.”
At least they didn't in 2019 (Yes, Tesla has been talking about developing these puppies for THAT long.)
Musk has mused that people would buy their cars and then "command" them to join "Tesla's ride network," where they would be hired out to give customers Uber-like rides.
Musk predicted that owners would "make massive profits" pimping out their cars.
“It’s totally insane. Pedestrians cross streets in Manhattan, like no other city in the country,” said John Samuelsen, the international president of the Transport Workers Union. “They do whatever they want, whenever they want. These vehicles are not prepared to deal with that type of pedestrian interaction.”
Don't really care about the idiots who are sending themselves down the road in these death traps, but care a lot about the group of school children that they might decimate.
Hans von Ohain & Erik Rossiter were on their way to play golf one afternoon in 2022 when von Ohain’s #Tesla suddenly swerved off Upper Bear Creek Road. The car’s driver-assistance #software, Full #SelfDriving, was struggling to navigate the mountain curves, forcing von Ohain repeatedly to yank it back on course.
“The first time it happened, I was like, ‘Is that normal?’” recalled Rossiter, who described the 5-mile drive on the outskirts of Denver as “uncomfortable.” “And he was like, ‘Yeah, that happens every now & then.’”
Hours later, on the way home, the #Tesla Model 3 barreled into a tree & exploded in flames, killing von Ohain, a Tesla employee & devoted fan of CEO #ElonMusk.
Rossiter, who survived the crash, told emergency responders that von Ohain was using an “#AutoDrive feature on the Tesla” that “just ran straight off the road,” acc/to a 911 dispatch recording…. In a recent interview, Rossiter said he believes that von Ohain was using #FullSelfDriving, which — if true — would make his death the first known fatality involving #Tesla’s most advanced driver-assistance #technology.
The tech industry is hyped up about AI, but what is life like for the underclass of workers who actually make those tools work when they fail?
I spoke to @jomc about her new novel “Wrong Way” that paints an empathetic portrait of a robotic operator of a supposedly driverless car — with a fun twist. We also talk about what it means to be a tech critic today.