Reported autopilot accident

On 7.0 my car was routinely trying to do exactly this on AP. It wasn't just a case of the car not seeing the truck drift into my lane. My car was actively sliding right towards the back of the tractor trailer. At one point it happened 3 times in one week and I learned to turn off AP when overtaking trucks in a left hand turn. Hopefully this is cleared up in 7.1.

Sigh... here come more restrictions.

From January 11th,
Elon Musk says Tesla's autopilot is already better than human drivers - The Washington Post

"Musk said, he was not aware of any accidents caused by autopilot. He said the closest scenario were accidents where drivers mistakenly believed they were in autopilot mode."

I wonder if this was one of those times.

In fact Autopilot is so good that they're reducing where and when you can use it.... that makes sense...

I have actually thought that I was in AP when I was not. That was a big wakeup call for me. It becomes rote after a short time and is therefore something we need to learn.

it wasnt me officer! really

Incident is already under investigation. Looks more a case the driver thinks the autopilot is on while it's not. Logfiles will show if he was right.

CHG-ON said:

I have actually thought that I was in AP when I was not. That was a big wakeup call for me. It becomes rote after a short time and is therefore something we need to learn.

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Yep, been there, too.

"...the driver told the driver of the truck he hit that 'he was driving on autopilot'." Well, he would, wouldn't he! MW

schonelucht said:

It's probably something Tesla should work on. More people have reported that they had AP disengaged while thinking it was on. That kind of driver-confusion is probably more dangerous than AP itself.

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If people are going to not pay attention they are going to get in accidents.
The AP indicators are pretty tough to miss and the audible cues now in place make it really tough to miss.
It does take a bit of getting used to, but while getting used to it the driver should be even more careful.

The driver is responsible for the car's behavior, AP or not.

Insurance risks with AP?

schonelucht said:

It's probably something Tesla should work on. More people have reported that they had AP disengaged while thinking it was on. That kind of driver-confusion is probably more dangerous than AP itself.

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My biggest fear is how insurance companies are going to handle any claims related to AP. Sure it's cool,l but it just doesn't seem worth it to me at this point to risk using it. fwiw

schonelucht said:

It's probably something Tesla should work on. More people have reported that they had AP disengaged while thinking it was on. That kind of driver-confusion is probably more dangerous than AP itself.

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I agree completely. The audio tone that indicates "AP enabled" is very similar to the "AP not enabled". As I don't drive looking at my instrument cluster much then it is easy to get confused. It needs to be a more obvious sound when AP won't enable.

kirkbauer said:

I agree completely. The audio tone that indicates "AP enabled" is very similar to the "AP not enabled". As I don't drive looking at my instrument cluster much then it is easy to get confused. It needs to be a more obvious sound when AP won't enable.

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well, there's only so much the manufacturer can do. the other equally important area is training of the driver. as such new technology emerges, i'm sure driving schools will and must adapt to new realities and include monitoring of assistance systems into the training.

this is very evident in aviation, where the pilot has ultimate responsibility but is trained to constantly monitor relevant systems, and that includes visual scanning of the instrument cluster while maintaining a situational awareness of the outside.

i am against pushing everything onto the manufacturer, because then the driver/pilot needs to be eliminated. i am pro enabling drivers/pilots to be integrated into the system through training and well designed interfaces.

Have you ever heard the loud noise an airplane makes when the autopilot is no longer on? You also have to acknowledge it or the warning will never end. But even with that planes have crashed because the pilots thought auto was still on.

schonelucht said:

This is blatantly false : we already have multiple confirmed accidents in a short time span with a limited number of cars on the road due to drivers not being aware that their car wasn't on AP.

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"Multiple confirmed accidents" in Teslas that were caused by drivers thinking AP was active but it was not, really? Please provide sources. I was not aware of this rash of Tesla accidents due to driver confusion about AP.

Lon12 said:

Have you ever heard the loud noise an airplane makes when the autopilot is no longer on? You also have to acknowledge it or the warning will never end. But even with that planes have crashed because the pilots thought auto was still on.

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i have heard it yes. and it doesn't need to be acknowledged (it is not a master caution/warning). and yes, no system will ever prevent all conceivable crashes.

i just wanted to emphasize that the human factor / training is often forgotten / underestimated. i for one are completely happy with the MS' autopilot enable/disable sounds. i find them very distinctive and sufficient in volume. but then again i am attuned to state changes and scanning of the instruments as a pilot.

schonelucht said:

It's probably something Tesla should work on. More people have reported that they had AP disengaged while thinking it was on. That kind of driver-confusion is probably more dangerous than AP itself.

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Over and over again. There's a usability issue here that Tesla should address. It doesn't seem like they have any engineers in charge of the user experience, judging by how other features get crammed into the interface. The whole cruise control stalk is a disaster already.

Tesla should be afraid of Apple for this reason. Elon concentrates on the guts of engineering too much.

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ecarfan said:

"Multiple confirmed accidents" in Teslas that were caused by drivers thinking AP was active but it was not, really? Please provide sources. I was not aware of this rash of Tesla accidents due to driver confusion about AP.

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He didn't say accident.

As for sources: count me as one.