On April 19th, another “self-driving” Tesla killed someone. A Tesla Model S, whose owner, Carl Hunter, from Snohomish, Washington, had engaged Autopilot, failed to see a motorcyclist in front of the car and, in the resulting collision — which saw the car come to rest atop the motorcycle — the rider, 28-year-old Jeffrey Nissen, succumbed to his injuries. According to numerous reports, Hunter admitted he actuated “self-driving” and was busy looking at his cellphone, obviously with the expectation that his attention was no longer needed to monitor his car’s Autopiloting.
To those us familiar with Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) — that’s the official name for semi-autonomous driving systems — none of this comes as a surprise. In another life, I also test cars, and the one thing that is an absolute…
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Motorcycle Mojo (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2024