Do you think the will fatality alter Tesla's autopilot development path and/or time table?

[calisnow]

I'm starting this a separate conversation from the original fatality thread because this is a discussion not of who is at fault, whether or not the media gets things wrong, etc.

I have autopilot and love it - yet even I have to admit that this incident has changed the mood around autonomous driving. Perhaps that reaction isn't rational - but humans aren't rational.

What I'm wondering now is how Tesla will react to this story going national - if they react at all.

Will they slow down or speed up development of autopilot 2.0? Will they put in place new restrictions on autopilot 1.0's use and/or capabilities?

Will they perhaps alter their hardware development plans in some way? What, if any, impact will this death have on sales of Model S and X moving forward?

My personal guess, btw, is that the fatality will not alter anything except re-double internal efforts to cover corner cases like this one - more rapidly improving the system's capabilities.

I believe Tesla must have had a contingency plan from the beginning for this possibility - a death while using autopilot.

 

[calisnow]

Gosh I can't type correctly the last couple days - sorry for the screwed up title sentence in the original post.

 

[dhrivnak]

Unfortunately I thought this was inevitable and will likely slow adoption. Let's say autopilot is 90% better than humans, if so that is still 4000 deaths on the road. It will be interesting to see how the legal ramifications play out.

 

[Reeler]

I think they will rush AP 2.0 sensors out. I don't think AP 1.0 can ever be made to perform outside of Beta to do automatic lane keeping in all weather conditions. The blind spot detection, for example, will never work well.

 

[MarkS22]

I don't think there will be any changes other than eventually using the data from this accident to improve software and/or future sensors. Changing the production schedule or Autopilot release dates based on preliminary data with a single incident would be more frightening.

 

[wayner]

Perhaps the more pertinent question is will government authorities withdraw approval for Autopilot and similar functionality.

 

[Gwgan]

IMO TM will work in-house to improve ABS Tesla Autopilot partner Mobileye comments on fatal crash, says tech isn’t meant to avoid this type of accident [Updated] perhaps using image (MobliEye) crosschecks as well as radar.

 

[Waiting4M3]

Perhaps the more pertinent question is will government authorities withdraw approval for Autopilot and similar functionality.

Do AP or adaptive cruise control and lane keeping techs currently need approval from the government?

 

[Waiting4M3]

IMO TM will work in-house to improve ABS Tesla Autopilot partner Mobileye comments on fatal crash, says tech isn’t meant to avoid this type of accident [Updated] perhaps using image (MobliEye) crosschecks as well as radar.

I expect that they will, Tesla is not GM/Toyota/ChryslerFiat/Takata, they will not wait for dozens of people or some celebrity getting hurt before doing something.

 

[Industrial dsgn]

I'm starting this a separate conversation from the original fatality thread because this is a discussion not of who is at fault, whether or not the media gets things wrong, etc.

I have autopilot and love it - yet even I have to admit that this incident has changed the mood around autonomous driving. Perhaps that reaction isn't rational - but humans aren't rational.

What I'm wondering now is how Tesla will react to this story going national - if they react at all.

Will they slow down or speed up development of autopilot 2.0? Will they put in place new restrictions on autopilot 1.0's use and/or capabilities?

Will they perhaps alter their hardware development plans in some way? What, if any, impact will this death have on sales of Model S and X moving forward?

My personal guess, btw, is that the fatality will not alter anything except re-double internal efforts to cover corner cases like this one - more rapidly improving the system's capabilities.

I believe Tesla must have had a contingency plan from the beginning for this possibility - a death while using autopilot.

What happened to the other two technologies in this case radar and GPS? Radar does not use optics and GPS would have indicated that there maybe a left handed turning lane and crossing intersection! We know not to use driver assist in an intersection. I have not seen or heard A WORD ABOUT THE THREE TECHNOLOGIES IN PLAY HERE, or are they? The statement from Tesla about "the White side of a truck" is very discouraging!

 

[calisnow]

What happened to the other two technologies in this case radar and GPS? Radar does not use optics and GPS would have indicated that there maybe a left handed turning lane and crossing intersection! We know not to use driver assist in an intersection. I have not seen or heard A WORD ABOUT THE THREE TECHNOLOGIES IN PLAY HERE, or are they?

There is, I believe, extensive discussion on the technology at play in the other thread (including the limitations of radar in this accident's scenario) - which is why I started this one as a separate discussion about the possible impact on Tesla of the potential media and political fallout from this accident.

 

[travwill]

The story is old news already, will quickly be forgotten. TSLA closed up with the rest of market today 2%, down .50 after hours, but overall is recovery from the SolarCity fiasco/bad idea & publicity.

AP2.0+ is key though from a techy perspective.

 

[aesculus]

Well if it's anything like the aircraft world, the NTSB almost always boils it down to pilot error or that pilot error was a significant contributor even when the wings fall off in flight.

But right now the media is having a field day and we get told by everyone how dangerous our car is and they hope we are not using the autopilot feature.