National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened Formal investigation into Tesla’s autopilot features (PDF), claiming to have identified 11 incidents of concern. In particular, they are studying what Tesla calls “autopilot” or traffic-aware cruise control while approaching vehicles that stop responding, such as fire trucks or ambulances. According to the NHTSA statement, most cases occur at night and also involve warning devices such as cones, flashing lights, or signs with arrows. You would think that these devices would make human drivers be cautious.
No matter how they promote these features, Tesla will tell you that none of their vehicles are truly autonomous, and drivers must maintain control. This is a lot of assumptions, even if you ignore the fact that some Tesla owners spare no effort to bypass the need for driver control.Tesla has committed to fully autonomous driving and is testing this feature, but as of this writing, the company still stated Active supervision of drivers is necessary When using the existing “fully autonomous driving” function.
We have talked a lot about the safety of autonomous vehicles in the past. We also reported some public accidents that we have heard of. what do you think? Are self-driving cars as close to reality as they want you to believe? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments.