Ignored warnings a challenge for partially-automated cars
FOUR months after a Tesla driver crashed and died using the company’s semi-automated Autopilot feature last May, Elon Musk announced a crackdown on drivers trying to game the company’s safety systems.
Musk said that some of those behind the wheel tug down on their steering wheel 10 times an hour to trick their Tesla into thinking they were paying attention.
“It becomes an unconscious reflex action,” Musk said.
The Telsa CEO was not pointing to a theoretical problem. What he must have known, but didn’t say, at the time was that the deceased driver, Joshua Brown, was among those who weren’t playing by Tesla’s rules.
This week the National Transportation Safety Board, which is examining the crash, opened investigative
During the course of the trip, approximately 37 minutes passed during which the Autopilot system was actively controlling the automobile in both lane assist and adaptive cruise control.
files showing that Brown had repeatedly been warned by his Telsa Model S to take the wheel.
A chime went off six times, and there were seven visual warnings, according to the NTSB.
“During the course of the trip, approximately 37 minutes passed during which the Autopilot system was actively controlling the automobile in both lane assist and adaptive cruise control,” NTSB investigators wrote.
Tracking data showed Brown’s hands were detected on the wheel for 25 seconds during that time, the investigators said. For the rest of the trip, the car was registering “HANDS REQUIRED NOT DETECTED” or was in “one of the visual or aural warning states,” according to the NTSB.
The 500-plus-page report contains only factual information collected by NTSB investigators; analysis, recommendations and probable cause of the crash will be issued later.
Tesla instructs its drivers to keep their hands on the wheel, though many ignore that admonition.
Researchers say drivers can easily fall into being too trusting of partially-automated cars, which are not designed to take over everything a driver does but rather are meant to help drivers stay in their lane or brake in emergencies.
Some makers of driverless cars, namely Waymo, formerly Google’s autonomous car project, say they will avoid partial automation to avoid this human problem.
Tesla says drivers of its cars, assisted by Autopilot, are already safer than those without the technology, and it will unlock the fully autonomous features in its newest vehicles once its software and the regulatory environment are ready for it to do so.
In his comments last September, Musk announced that software would be sent out wirelessly to update Teslas’ Autopilot system.
After that change, Musk said, if a driver “ignores the audible alarm more than three times in an hour, then the driver will have to park the car and restart it in order to enable Autosteer.” — Washington Post.
NTSB investigators