Tesla executives, including CEO Elon Musk, dismissed engineers’ repeated recommendations to add additional sensors to cars as a safety measure when using the self-driving Autopilot feature, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The sensors would have tracked drivers’ eyes and issued an alert when they took their eyes off the road or hands off the wheel. The equipment was labeled by execs as unnecessary, ineffective and annoying to drivers, the report said.
Tesla told WSJ that the company “explored many technologies and opted for the combination of a hands-on-wheel torsion sensor with visual and audio alerts, and we will of course continue to evaluate new technologies as we evolve the Tesla fleet over time.”
Musk addressed the story on Twitter, saying that Teslas are the safest cars on the road and the eye tracking technology was rejected for being ineffective.
This is false. Eyetracking rejected for being ineffective, not for cost. WSJ fails to mention that Tesla is safest car on road, which would make article ridiculous. Approx 4X better than avg.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2018