SOUTH JORDAN, Utah (AP) — A Tesla sedan with a semi-autonomous Autopilot feature has rear-ended a fire department truck at 60 mph (97 kph) apparently without braking before impact, but police say it’s unknown if the Autopilot feature was engaged.
The cause of the Friday evening crash, involving a Tesla Model S and a fire department mechanic truck stopped at a red light, was under investigation, said police in South Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
The crash, in which the Tesla driver was injured, comes as federal safety agencies investigate the performance of Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system.
The Tesla’s air bags were activated in the crash, South Jordan police Sgt. Samuel Winkler said Saturday. The Tesla’s driver suffered a broken right ankle, and the driver of the Unified Fire Authority mechanic truck didn’t require treatment, Winkler said. more
I just don’t get the concept of driver-less cars. If you see driving as too much of an inconvenience for you, then take a cab or hire a chauffeur. I mean seriously? What kind of A-hole buys a car that they don’t have to drive? Whats the point?
“It was unknown if the Auto pilot feature was turned on”
Seems like that might be a tiny insignificant minor detail to gloss over on the campaign to slander innovation and progress.
To damn lazy to do our own crashing now?
And the murky brain of Ohio Governor John “Daddy Delivered Mail” Kasich decided last week to open all Ohio roads to driverless cars. Way to go, Johnny!
My truck has radar cruise and collision avoidance technology. Neat in theory, but it needs work. The truck will follow and stop on its own. However, I hover over the brake pedal because I do not trust it. I haven’t the guts to try the collision avoidance system, but have set it off and that’s what needs work. On rural roads, when a vehicle traveling the same direction turns in front of me. I can see the driver cleared the lane, but my truck will start beeping and slam the brakes on as if the other vehicle is coming into my lane. No, it’s going away from me, stupid computer!
The radar cruise is goofy as well. If I’m set for 75mph on the highway and someone passes me doing 80mph, when they cross into my lane, they trip the truck up and it slams on the brakes. Luckily, I can turn this stuff off at will, because it is buggy. However, I bet soon they’re going to make this equipment mandatory on all cars.
Why bother? Who needs it.
Just having them automatically shut off every time you are stopped with your foot on the brake annoys the fuck out of me. Fortunately on our Jeep, you can turn that feature off…..but every time you start it. Some you can’t.
There needs to be one vehicle for everybody, a 1967 ford f-250, 2 wheel drive without power steering and bad king pins. If you can’t learn to drive in it then you’re gonna die in it…..It was all hands on deck in a snow storm…..
Good old Armstrong steering, I had a 56 ford F 100 that beat me to death driving it. I drove it to San Diego once back in 1974, it was a very long trip without power steering and those hard as rock bench seats nearly killed my back. It had a 4 on the floor manual transmission so I was doing a lot of shifting gears especially going up hill or in town not so much on the open road. great truck when I was young but I don’t miss the old technology.
I suspect that the day will come when it will be illegal to have old cars on the road. They will be declared unsafe. If you don’t have all this intrusive technology, then you will be banned from all public road ways. There is a reason for this push. Its called CONTROL. If you have a vehicle that can’t be hacked, you can’t drive. I believe this is the end game of our wise criminals that pass the laws that govern our entire existence.
the best advancement in car technology was fuel injection.
Cash for Clunkers II will get cars requiring drivers off the road. C4C III will remove all gasoline cars. C4C will remove all remaining cars from highways. Bicycles only. Life is Good.
In 10 years when driverless cars are mandatory, if you say,do, or write anything the Thought Police deem offensive, your car will automatically drive you to the re-education gulag. Ain’t technology great?!
When the inevitable collision between 2 autonomous autos occurs, whose fault is it going to be?
I see a can of worms with a bunch of wealthy lawyers at the bottom of it…
Kinda lucky it hit what it did.
Coulda been a collision with a completely filled to capacity gasoline truck right in front of a grade school right as the kids are going into school.
And let’s not ignore the problem where so many vehicles are becoming more stealthy because they are becoming ever more aerodynamic.
I’m not so sure about the reported speed. He rear-ended a fire truck at 60 mph and only had a broken ankle? Almost sounds like a suicide attempt.
We need to urge liberals to buy Teslas.
I constantly tell people about the Isaac Asimov (I Robot) principle for moral dilemmas and human life.
For instance, will the Artificial Intelligence (AI) be programmed to drive you off the cliff to save a bus load of nuns and children or will it force the bus to go over the precipice to save you?
Will there be a “morality setting” for the car that you choose or will the decision be made for you by the always beneficent government (I’m being sarcastic here)?