Fatal autopilot crash, NHTSA investigating...
So far, not a lot of details have been revealed. Since NHTSA is investigating, supposedly, one can read the report from NHTSA after they have concluded. In addition, one of the details they already revealed is that the interaction included that of the underside of a trailer. They also mentioned a white trailer on a white background (the sky). Where I stay in Aptos a lot, and in many coastal areas of this state, the sky is often very white. Also, closer to the poles (North Pole and South Pole) when the sun angle is less directly above, the sky is less blue, and more white. Ground-fog could also induce this sort of white on white type of interaction. Also, any stealth trailer would pose this problem, and therefore be highly illegal; we can only assume that the trailer was not a stealth trailer, and was only a white trailer. White is a nice relatively joyful (yet neutral) color (compared to black or other dark melancholy colors) and as a solid color is simple to apply, so it's common on large trailers. It is also more visible than some darker colors at night time. But, it also presents these types of situations of lack of discernibility in the rare instances in which the background itself becomes white. Human drivers and mechanical drivers need extreme good eyesight and alertness to avoid these types of situations, and presumably, most such people have such capabilities, or would realize their lack thereof, and find alternate transportation options (such as a different road or time of day).
I don't want to blame anybody, but if the price of the vehicle was increased further, more sensors could be loaded up on it, and presumably offer increased protection for a wider range of activities, if the processing power and software could make good use of the higher quantity and diversity of inputs. Also, sharing of collected information could happen inter-vehicle. Those are all ideas, and would of course need a lot of consideration just to even try out, much less bring to market. I've repeated that thought many times on these forums, so there's nothing new from me, if anybody has already read those thoughts from me before, and the doubtless thousands of others who have brought up similar ideas.
From this tragic loss, I think more information will come out later; for this summary thread of driver assistance problems, I would consider it reasonable for only a few more installments of summaries of what was learned from this crash to be posted in this thread. I just wanted to get the initial bout here since it seems like a pretty simple to understand issue (empty space under a vehicle AND white-on-white vehicle, that both combined ended up deadly).
I should add that as I imagine the description of the crash, I think of a particular highway I use that has some (if not all) very similar attributes: California State Highway 152, between Los Banos and California State Highway 99; in this case, the highway is a relatively safe relatively divided (entirely divided if you discount the crossings) relatively high speed (65MPH) flat straight smooth well kept highway (with very wide and far on-highway visibility), with many many truck crossings (therefore not a freeway), driving at farm speeds (single digit MPH), as well as tractors (also driving at farm-tractor speed). I personally know this, and turn on my lights and go into ultra-awareness mode for this area. What happens is that I get into a lull of calmness as my car smoothly directs down the highway, a long boring highway that one wishes to be finished with soon, often very hot and requiring the sound-deadening A/C fans going at a good clip, furthering my slip into calmness and sereneness. I recognize the problem of crossing traffic, so keep very alert in this stretch. It is not uncommon to have many dozens of minutes of smooth fast driving followed by a vehicle crossing one's path at nearly a stopped speed, and have to bring the full range of capabilities to bear to make certain that nothing bad happens; usually this just means slowing and being ready to stop, but it is not unheard of to go from a complete highway speed to a complete standstill on this stretch, and I have experienced that on multiple occasions. Add to that the white on white background, and this becomes just one of those things that needs this particular attention, and has its own set of particular dangers.
