Looks like our friend has gone public with an open letter:
Tesla Autopilot crash in Montana: Drivers reveals new details and claims a ‘cover up’ by Tesla
"A Public Letter to Mr. Musk and Tesla For The Sake Of All Tesla Driver’s Safety
From my friend, Mr. Pang, a survivor of the Montana Tesla autopilot crash
My name is Pang. On July 8, 2016, I drove my Tesla Model X from Seattle heading to Yellowstone Nation Park, with a friend, Mr. Huang, in the passenger seat. When we were on highway I90, I turned on autopilot, and drove for about 600 miles. I switched autopilot off while we exited I90 in Montana to state route 2. After about 1 mile, we saw that road condition was good, and turned on autopilot again. The speed setting was between 55 and 60 mph. After we drove about another mile on state route 2, the car suddenly veered right and crashed into the safety barrier post. It happened so fast, and we did not hear any warning beep. Autopilot did not slow down at all after the crash, but kept going in the original speed setting and continued to crash into more barrier posts in high speed. I managed to step on the break, turn the car left and stopped the car after it crashed 12 barrier posts. After we stopped, we heard the car making abnormal loud sound. Afraid that the battery was broken or short circuited, we got out and ran away as fast as we could. After we ran about 50 feet, we found the sound was the engine were still running in high speed. I returned to the car and put it in parking, that is when the loud sound disappeared. Our cellphone did not have coverage, and asked a lady passing by to call 911 on her cellphone. After the police arrived, we found the right side of the car was totally damaged. The right front wheel, suspension, and head light flied off far, and the right rear wheel was crashed out of shape. We noticed that the barrier posts is about 2 feet from the white line. The other side of the barrier is a 50 feet drop, with a railroad at the bottom, and a river next. If the car rolled down the steep slope, it would be really bad. Concerning this crash accident, we want to make several things clear:
1. We know that while Tesla autopilot is on but the driver’s hand is not on the steering wheel, the system will issue warning beep sound after a while. If the driver’s hands continue to be off the steering wheel, autopilot will slow down, until the driver takes over both the steering wheel and gas pedal. But we did not hear any warning beep before the crash, and the car did not slow down either. It just veered right in a sudden and crashed into the barrier posts. Apparently the autopilot system malfunctioned and caused the crash. The car was running between 55 and 60 mph, and the barrier posts are just 3 or 4 feet away. It happened in less than 1/10 of a second from the drift to crash. A normal driver is impossible to avoid that in such a short time.
2. I was horrified by the fact that the Tesla autopilot did not slow down the car at all after the intial crash. After we crashed on the first barrier post, autopilot continued to drive the car with the speed of 55 to 60 mph, and crashed another 11 posts. Even after I stopped the car, it was still trying to accelerate and spinning the engine in high speed. What if it is not barrier posts on the right side, but a crowd?
3. Tesla never contacted me after the accident. Tesla just issued conclusion without thorough investigation, but blaming me for the crash. Tesla were trying to cover up the lack of dependability of the autopilot system, but blaming everything on my hands not on the steering wheel. Tesla were not interested in why the car veered right suddenly, nor why the car did not slow down during the crash. It is clear that Tesla is selling a beta product with bugs to consumers, and ask the consumers to be responsible for the liability of the bugging autopilot system. Tesla is using all Tesla drivers as lab rats. We are willing to talk to Tesla concerning the accident anytime, anywhere, in front of the public.
4. CNN’s article later about the accident was quoting out of context of our interview. I did not say that I do not know either Tesla or me should be responsible for the accident. I might consider buying another Tesla only if they can iron out the instability problems of their system.
As a survivor of such a bad accident, a past fan of the Tesla technology, I now realized that life is the most precious fortune in this world. Any advance in technology should be based on the prerequisite of protecting life to the maximum extend. In front of life and death, any technology has no right to ignore life, any pursue and dream on technology should first show the respect to life. For the sake of the safety of all Tesla drivers and passengers, and all other people sharing the road, Mr. Musk should stand up as a man, face up the challenge to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident, and take responsibility for the mistakes of Tesla product. We are willing to publicly talk to you face to face anytime to give you all the details of what happened. Mr. Musk, you should immediately stop trying to cover up the problems of the Tesla autopilot system and blame the consumers."
In response to our friend coming out to public, Tesla has previously also gave out a public statement. It again public stood by its statement after this public letter.
If you asked a public question, Tesla would give you a public answer. I am not sure our friend can get any satisfaction with a public method.
Here's a
previous Tesla statement after our friend talked to the press:
“This vehicle was being driven along an undivided mountain road shortly after midnight with autosteer enabled. The data suggests that the driver’s hands were not on the steering wheel, as no force was detected on the steering wheel for over 2 minutes after autosteer was engaged (even a very small amount of force, such as one hand resting on the wheel, will be detected). This is contrary to the terms of use that are agreed to when enabling the feature and the notification presented in the instrument cluster each time it is activated.
As road conditions became increasingly uncertain, the vehicle again alerted the driver to put his hands on the wheel. He did not do so and shortly thereafter the vehicle collided with a post on the edge of the roadway.
Autosteer, which is enabled via the Driver Assistance tab under Settings, is best suited either for highways with a center divider or any road while in slow-moving traffic. We specifically advise against its use at high speeds on undivided roads.
That said, provided the driver remains alert, it will still be safer than a person driving unaided, as people are sometimes distracted or may become unable to operate the vehicle, due to falling sleep, fainting or experiencing a medical emergency. After either high lateral acceleration from a sharp corner is detected or there is no force on the steering wheel, the vehicle gradually reduces speed, stops and turns on the emergency lights.”
It looks like our friend disagreed with Tesla's assessment that "
road conditions became increasingly uncertain" because our friend said "road condition was good."
Also, our friend disputed Tesla statement saying that "
the vehicle again alerted the driver to put his hands on the wheel" as he and his passenger "we did not hear any warning beep"
Our friend also disputed Tesla statement "
After either high lateral acceleration from a sharp corner is detected or there is no force on the steering wheel, the vehicle gradually reduces speed, stops and turns on the emergency lights." because he wrote: "I managed to step on the break, turn the car left and stopped the car..."
And so on...
Here's my comment:
1) The statement "Apparently the autopilot system malfunctioned and caused the crash." is false because the driver did not follow instruction.
The manual lists lots of conditions that the Autopilot is not meant to be used.
It says very clearly in the manual that it is used for divided highway.
But you see other people do it on youtube too?
Sure! But if something happens then you just cannot cite youtube as a reference, you have got to cite the owner's manual that prohibits highways with no median separation.
Hey! lots of people doing hands-off driving on youtube and nothing happen to them.
Sure! But it is not meant to be used as an hands-off driving. It is used as a hands-on driving.
Good for them that they did not get into troubles. But when do not follow instructions by doing a hands-off driving just like youtube does and you get into an accident, you cannot blame that the system is "malfunctioned."
2. "I was horrified by the fact that the Tesla autopilot did not slow down the car at all after the intial crash."
Lots of people misunderstood that the car must stop because it has Automatic Emergency Braking but the manual does not say that.
The best it can do is to do a 25 mph reduction in speed and let the car go: 60 mph - 25 mph means your car could still hitting those poles at 35 mph which is still quite fast but that's the best the manual said it can do!
3. "Tesla never contacted me after the accident.": My guess is as long as Tesla Roadside Service knew that vehicle occupants are fine, there's no need to follow up.
They looked up the log and found nothing out of ordinary so there's no need for an investigation.
However, that does not mean its is "normal" for you.
When owners first got Autopilot, it loved to veer to the right for an unintended highway exit.
Most owners followed the instructions and kept their hands on the steering wheel and prevented such mishaps.
But if they did not, they just can't blame Tesla for not caring why Autopilot lead them astray to an unintended highway exit or even caused an accident.
To Tesla, that is not out-of-ordinary because there are certain conditions that the car behaves that way even we know and Tesla knows that's undesirable.
Those undesirable Autopilot behaviors would be and some have been fixed but in the mean time, the manual still prohibits hands-off driving.
"Tesla is using all Tesla drivers as lab rats:" It is false because no one forces the driver to take Autopilot. As a matter of fact, you must pay $2,500 for the privilege for being on the leading edge of technology even though you know that it is not perfect.
Lab rats are not given an owner's manual that lists warnings and cite the word "death" 19 times.
You are a human being who entered into a legally binding contract with an owner manual and you signed for it with no one rounding you up into a lab rat.
4. "I might consider buying another Tesla only if they cant iron out the instability problems of their system."
You might as well wait for Google to come out with their final product which could be a few years from now or many years from now.
In the mean time, no one can beat Tesla's Autopilot as long as you follow its instructions, not youtube's.
Good luck and please keep us of your progress!
