Electric car company Tesla recently launched its driving assistance feature, ‘Autopilot’ Although they announced that they would recall almost all vehicles sold in the United States to correct defects, some are criticizing that this is not enough to solve the safety problems of Autopilot.<\/p>\n
The Washington Post (Daily on the 17th) According to WP), experts point out that Tesla’s recall will not solve the fundamental problem with Autopilot. After the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) previously investigated traffic accidents related to Autopilot, when it was pointed out that there were not enough measures in place to prevent the possibility of misuse of this function, Tesla announced a recall of 2 million units on the 13th, saying it would update the software to add a warning function.<\/p>\n
However, experts say that measures to modify the Autopilot function should not be limited to providing more warnings to drivers, but that stronger regulations should be implemented, such as limiting the areas in which the function can be turned on.<\/p>\n
Professor Matthew Wansley of New York’s Cardozo School of Law, who specializes in automotive technology, said Autopilot should not be used on roads with cross traffic. \u201cThere are a lot of crashes,\u201d he said. Chairman Jennifer Homendi of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who has taken a more critical stance on Tesla’s self-driving technology than NHTSA, also said, \u201cIt is welcome that they are taking action,\u201d he said, but pointed out, \u201cWe need to check whether such changes are being made properly, but how can we check if there is a voluntary recall?\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously in 2017, After investigating several fatal accidents related to Tesla’s Autopilot, the NTSB recommended that this function be disabled except in the basic situations for which Autopilot was designed.<\/p>\n
Democratic Party member U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal criticized Tesla’s actions, saying, “They are far from sufficient,” and “Relying on Tesla’s own enforcement is truly problematic.”<\/p>\n
At the same time, he emphasized, “When a car hits an obstacle or another vehicle or goes off the road, there must be measures beyond voluntary compliance (on the part of the company).”WP is currently using Auto. It was reported that pilot death accidents frequently occur when operating outside the specific location and situation for which it was originally designed (ODD, Operational Design Domain). Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, on the 13th, a court in Los Angeles (LA) sentenced Tesla driver Kevin Liard of $23,000 believed to be the first case to be criminally prosecuted for an autopilot-related fatal accident. Ordered to pay compensation.<\/p>\n
In December 2019, Riad was driving a Tesla Model S with Autopilot on a road in California when he hit a Honda Civic at an intersection right after exiting the highway. It hit and killed the two occupants. At the time, the Tesla vehicle ignored the stop sign at the intersection and continued driving at a speed exceeding 110 km\/h. Liard pleaded not guilty after being criminally indicted but was sentenced to probation in June after being found guilty.<\/p>\n
Following the sentence, he was ordered to pay compensation. A separate civil lawsuit filed by the victim’s family is ongoing. Attorney representing the surviving family member Donald Slavik said in a statement, “Tesla’s recently announced recall prohibits the use of Autopilot on controlled highways.” \u201cIf there had been restrictions, this tragic accident could have been prevented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"