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Can you imagine if a Tesla had killed Anton Yelchin?

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Tesla technology can overrides operator error so if Anton Yelchin got a Tesla and forgot to turn it off or forgot and still left the gear on Reverse, as soon as he got out of a Tesla, a seat sensor would sense an absence of a driver and would turn off the car, the gear would be on Park and it would apply the parking brake system to make sure this kind of accident can never happen even if again, it's an operator error.
and if pigs could fly..... this is all well and good but he did not buy a tesla and he died because of a design flaw and his not getting the car into park.
 
...a design flaw...

People are used to muscle memory so when they push a gear stick to "Park," they may not confirm with the car via a lighted "P" on the stick nor may they confirm with the instrument dashboard that the car agrees with them with the lighted "P."

By solely relying on muscle memory and not visually confirming with the car's gear lighted status, that is an operator error.

However, is that operator error worth an execution sentence?

Of course not.

The current JEEP system is designed for people who are disciplined and in compliance. If you have formed a discipline of checking your car status, then it is safe. If you don't have a habit of doing a car status monitoring, then this design is not for you.
 
This is how a Jeep's Park indicator on the gear stick would light up to confirm your action.

screen-shot-2016-06-20-at-12-12-42-pm.png


That lighted "P" also appears on the dashboard as well.

However, some drivers don't visually check to make sure that's what the car says.

Confusion happens in Tesla gear stick system too.

People may think that they selected the Tesla gear to go Reverse so they look back, but without visually confirming with Tesla dashboard, they unintentionally got the car go forward instead:


crashed-model-s.jpg



This is a Tesla owner operator error that resulted in property damage, and fortunately, not death.

In future, hopefully, the technology will get better so that Tesla would know how to avoid such unintentional crashes.
 
While I agree with your point about how Tesla, like Apple, gets an unfair amount of media attention at the slightest hint of a problem, I hate to be a buzzkill here:

Really, you're going to use the tragic death of a talented young man to make a point about media bias? Really? Christ.

Looks like we have our answer.
Just saw ABC News' report and they did not mention the average deaths per mile in traditional cars vs. Autopilot. The anchorwoman signed off "very scary".