What confuses me about the release of data on the Utah Tesla model S crash is that the autopilot did not detect an object directly in front. I realize a standing object like a parked car can be confusing but one would think autopilot would react much faster than the human did.
The car was going too fast. At 45mph and above AP in it's current form can't detect stopped objects. TACC works great when you have flowing traffic, but go from 60mph to a dead stopped object and it won't see it. -Jim
Please read the explanation at: Why Tesla's Autopilot Can't See a Stopped Firetruck This has been an ongoing problem with RADAR that is still haunting us. To help the RADAR out, others have added LIDAR that can detect and measure a stationary obstacle in 3 dimensions. Tesla goes a different route with TeslaVsion to help out the RADAR but it is not activated yet. So, keep expecting more of this scenario to happen while technology will get some help down the line!
I found some details here: Tesla driver who crashed into truck on Autopilot got a citation as Tesla releases logs and the NHTSA investigates Every time it says "she had her hands off the wheel", wouldn't it be more accurate to say that "her hands weren't detected on the wheel"? I've only driven a Model 3 and not a Model S, but there were LOTS of times when my hand(s) were on the wheel but the car didn't detect it because I wasn't tugging hard enough on the wheel.
Correct! Hands on wheel don't count if there's not enough torque so the driver can feel how the automation is doing. Without knowing how the automation is turning the wheel, the manually correction might be too late!
