Autopilot causes an accident. What now?

[glide]

Two lessons here (one, for me, was the hard way):
1 - eyes on the road at all times, AP or FSD or whatever you wanna call it.

The fact that people don’t inherently understand this is baffling to me. I guess they’ll give anyone a drivers license these days.

Seriously. This is rule number one and there are no exceptions.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

I use autopilot on city streets daily without issue. Is that uncommon?

I’d think using autopilot (in a car with no full self driving beta) on city streets is uncommon. I only use it on freeways with moderate curves in the path and not frequent sharp curves like the 5 freeway transition to 110 freeway near Los Angele’s’s Dodge stadium. Though I am tempted to try if I wake up on a Sunday at 5AM so there is no one else near me.
Autopilot is fancy cruise control. I’d think it is uncommon to use cruise control on city streets. That being said, I am in Los Angeles where city streets are busy and people are constantly jockeying to get in the lanes devoid of delivery vans which stop and cause traffic etc. perhaps autopilot is more feasible in a rural small city town that is more mellow….where green field surround rather than nonstop concrete for 500 miles….almost sounds like paradise.

 

[OxBrew]

Side bar: if basic AP is not approved (by Tesla) for use on city streets, why does Tesla not prevent it from being used on city streets?

Should be locked out, in my opinion.

 

[glide]

Side bar: if basic AP is not approved (by Tesla) for use on city streets, why does Tesla not prevent it from being used on city streets?

Should be locked out, in my opinion.

For the same reason you are capable of driving 100 mph on a city street. You still shouldn’t do it.

 

[Unclepaul]

Autopilot in a Tesla is simiar to autopilot in an airplane. It will steer in relatively easiy situations, but when the going gets tough, the human pilot needs to have their hands on the wheel and in control.

 

[sleepydoc]

I’d think using autopilot (in a car with no full self driving beta) on city streets is uncommon. I only use it on freeways with moderate curves in the path and not frequent sharp curves like the 5 freeway transition to 110 freeway near Los Angele’s’s Dodge stadium. Though I am tempted to try if I wake up on a Sunday at 5AM so there is no one else near me.
Autopilot is fancy cruise control. I’d think it is uncommon to use cruise control on city streets. That being said, I am in Los Angeles where city streets are busy and people are constantly jockeying to get in the lanes devoid of delivery vans which stop and cause traffic etc. perhaps autopilot is more feasible in a rural small city town that is more mellow….where green field surround rather than nonstop concrete for 500 miles….almost sounds like paradise.

Before entering the FSD beta program I would use AP on city streets all the time. *But* I did so recognizing the limitations. As others have said, it’s fancy cruise control and you can’t expect it to do more. Anyone who’s used it in town knows that intersections are a crap shoot and you should be ready to take over in an instant. Heck, I’m ready to take over in an instant with FSD which nominally should be better.

 

[Brolan]

I am also trying to figure out that exactly happened. The OP said AP steered him into a median. That sounds like FSD beta as AP just lane keeps.

 

[qdeathstar]

I was going through an intersection, autopilot was on, and the autopilot steered me into the center median and hit a traffic sign.

I do not have a full coverage/comprehensive insurance. Not interested in lessons right now. I have never been in an accident in all of my years of driving and that's why I don't have full coverage.

What happens now, will Tesla take any responsibility for this?

Please no "why didn't you have full coverage/comprehensive?" replies

Autopilot didn’t cause an accident. You are supposed to have your hands all the wheel at all times.

I’m not sure what you want Tesla to do. The driver is at fault here.

 

[sleepydoc]

I am also trying to figure out that exactly happened. The OP said AP steered him into a median. That sounds like FSD beta as AP just lane keeps.

You can engage autopilot on any road that has lane markings. If it comes to an intersection it will proceed straight through but isn’t very good at finding the correct lane on the other side. Clearly it missed in this case

 

[howardnj]

I was going through an intersection, autopilot was on, and the autopilot steered me into the center median and hit a traffic sign.

I do not have a full coverage/comprehensive insurance. Not interested in lessons right now. I have never been in an accident in all of my years of driving and that's why I don't have full coverage.

What happens now, will Tesla take any responsibility for this?

Please no "why didn't you have full coverage/comprehensive?" replies

Your post reminds me back to 1966 while serving in the US Army in Germany. One of the Army Sergeants who was running around yelling "short-timer" as his tour was almost over. Suddenly he stopped yelling and took a re-up offer for another four years.
He got a 30 day leave in addition to around $20k dollars as many were being redeployed to Viet- Nam.
He went home to I believe KY and purchased a brand new Ford Mustang. When he returned he told us he totaled the car and had no insurance.
He did have four more years to serve in the US Army with no car. I have no idea whatever happened to him.
Perhaps you knew him?

 

[FatherTo1]

The fact that people don’t inherently understand this is baffling to me. I guess they’ll give anyone a drivers license these days.

Seriously. This is rule number one and there are no exceptions.

Seeing the number of bad drivers on the road daily, I definitely believe our DMV hands out licenses to anyone that asks or applies.

OP took a gamble without full coverage and loss the bet. It was a chosen risk. Tesla didn’t tell OP to take the insurance risk. It is called self-accountability. If you want to make your own choices then you accept the outcome — good or bad.

Also unclear how bad the damage is. Maybe the car is still driveable and it’s just embarrassing cosmetic damage. Glad no one was injured in the collision.

 

[OxBrew]

For the same reason you are capable of driving 100 mph on a city street. You still shouldn’t do it.

100mph on City Streets is not listed on Tesla website as Coming Soon, implying it is Not Here, (yet it still works).

Pretty different things. We have a mature culture around speeding around town, and specific laws prohibiting it. I don't know of any laws about not using basic AP on City Streets.

 

[glide]

100mph on City Streets is not listed on Tesla website as Coming Soon, implying it is Not Here, (yet it still works).

Pretty different things. We have a mature culture around speeding around town, and specific laws prohibiting it. I don't know of any laws about not using basic AP on City Streets.

Do you need a law to let you know when to apply common sense? It seems a lot of people do…

 

[CaseyL]

I was going through an intersection, autopilot was on, and the autopilot steered me into the center median and hit a traffic sign.

I do not have a full coverage/comprehensive insurance. Not interested in lessons right now. I have never been in an accident in all of my years of driving and that's why I don't have full coverage.

What happens now, will Tesla take any responsibility for this?

Please no "why didn't you have full coverage/comprehensive?" replies

I hope you carry liability.

 

[TXDawg]

Did you read any of those End User Agreements and Disclaimers? Regarding insurance…I mean, if it’s a cash car I can see not carrying full coverage, but wow you must have it pretty good not to care, or for it to not be worth it.

 

[EVchiq]

I am also trying to figure out that exactly happened. The OP said AP steered him into a median. That sounds like FSD beta as AP just lane keeps.

I think it thought the median was the lane... It drove me into it wanting to put itself back into what it thought was the lane and hit the sign/median, i was looking away when it happened. It happened really quickly.

I'm very grateful nobody was hurt... but my confidence in the system has been shattered. 12k incident free miles since this on AP

 

[EVchiq]

Also unclear how bad the damage is. Maybe the car is still driveable and it’s just embarrassing cosmetic damage. Glad no one was injured in the collision.

The car doesn't even think anything is wrong with it other than low PSI.

Fender, bumper, headlamp, fascia light, lower valance, skid plate, fender bracket, 2 parking sensors, lower reinforcement, wheel. I already bought everything from eBay. The parts were ~$4500.

Got very lucky. Airbags did not go off, glass roof is good, windshield is good. The styrofoam impact absorber not affected.

I'm very grateful nobody was hurt. But it's very scary that it even happened to begin with. I hope this doesn't happen to anybody else/nobody gets hurt.

 

[mswlogo]

Autopilot is considered driver assistance not fully autonomous, and it warns you frequently to have your hands on the wheel and ready to apply the brakes if necessary. Not trying to give you a lesson, but Autopilot is NOT 100% fool proof and there are many areas still that need to improved. It sucks your car is damaged, but Tesla isn't going to take responsibility.

Not only that Auto Pilot is not designed to go through intersections. It’s really only for highway use. That is what FSD Beta is attempting to support aka “city streets”.

So you were driving with a freeway assistant tool, not on the freeway, with no insurance. And you want Tesla to cover you.

 

[RoBoRaT]

There's a very simple fix here. Change the name. Stop calling it "Autopilot", and call it what it is. "Advanced Cruise Control". "NEATO cruise". "ELON cruise". "Enhanced Cruise" "Super Cruise"... oh yeah.. that's taken. But you get the idea. The system is not "auto" anything. It can't even match GM's Super Cruise. So stop calling it autopilot. That's half the issue right there. The name IMPLIES some sort of automated driving.

At the same time, man... driving without collision insurance in any new car is, just, well.... asking for it, I guess.

But what happens next, as an earlier poster put it, is your paying for the damage.

Oh, and to the troll posting about Mercedes accepting responsibility for its system in case of an accident...try reading the article before posting it. That's a level 3 system (like FSD is trying to be, but Autopilot is not), and is only approved on certain German highways, with no stoplights or other traffic signals, at speeds below 40MPH. Under those conditions, on highways tested repeatedly by them, and at under 40MPH, Mercedes will accept responsibility. Not really going out on a limb there, are they?

What do you suggest we call automobiles?

 

[cgell]

Not only that Auto Pilot is not designed to go through intersections. It’s really only for highway use. That is what FSD Beta is attempting to support aka “city streets”.

So you were driving with a freeway assistant tool, not on the freeway, with no insurance. And you want Tesla to cover you.

And they weren’t looking at the road or ready to take over. SMH