Tesla electric car in autopilot mode crashed into a fire truck

Recently it became known that the electric vehicle Tesla Model S, being under the control of the Autopilot system, crashed into a fire engine. As a result of the accident, the electric car received very significant damage. The speed of the electric vehicle in this case was 104 kilometers per hour.

“The driver said that his Tesla was in autopilot mode. Surprisingly, the man did not get any damage, ”- said in a tweet of the US Fire Department, with whose car and electric vehicle collided. Tesla representatives say that the autopilot is by no means a panacea - this is just a test technology that can help in some situations.

Tesla describes its system as a digital assistant driver, and not as “autonomous driving control”. In other words, Autopilot is designed to reduce the load on the person while driving. In addition, the autopilot can take control of the electric car in their own hands, if the need arises. This is primarily about emergency situations, when a man-driver does not have time to react to a problem that arises.



Many other companies have similar systems to Tesla's autopilot, including Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, General Motors (GENERAL MOTORS) and BMW. All these developments can stop the car in case of problems on the road. If it is impossible to slow down, then an obstacle rounds up, or some other action is performed.

By the way, the Tesla manual says that the Autopilot system is not able to identify all objects on the road, the system can also not brake in front of large cars in time, especially if the speed is equal to or above 80 km / h, and the car driving ahead performs complex maneuvers.

The autopilots of these companies operate on the same principle. Errors happen and at the computer, although they are quite rare. But sometimes people die as a result of such a mistake. So, in 2016 in Florida, an electric car collided with a van, as a result of which the driver died on the spot. As it turned out, as a result of the investigation, the car simply did not recognize the light-colored van against the bright sun and a no less bright sky.

So far, Tesla has come out of such situations without financial or reputational losses. Now, as far as can be understood, Ilon Mask will also be able to pull Tesla out of the dock. Although the incident can be judged in more detail after receiving additional details about the incident.

By the way, most recently the San Francisco police stopped the Tesla driver, because doubts arose about his sobriety. And indeed, in the blood of the driver was found alcohol, and a lot. After it turned out, the driver said that the car was running Autopilot, which means that he had nothing to do with it.


The violator of traffic rules was arrested , his car was driven to the car park. Separately, the police noted that you can not drive a car and rely on the autopilot. And no matter what it is called - Autopilot, Supercruise or something else. It’s still early to trust your life to such systems.

In the next few years, large companies promise the release of fully autonomous robomobiles. True, you still have to equip them with a rudder, but during the journey you can enjoy the road and not drive, trying not to miss anything important.

So far, the proceedings on the first situation are still underway. Musk himself earlier commented on such accidents like this: "... around the world about a million people die in car accidents every year. About half of this million could have been saved if the Tesla autopilot were accessible to everyone." Earlier, Musk has already said that in his opinion, the autopilot reduces the probability of a car getting into an accident by about 50 ". He is probably right.

After a few years should appear cars that do not require human intervention in the trip. But now rely on the fact that the autopilot, which is positioned as a digital assistant driver, will be able to perform all the functions of the driver is not too reasonable.