The driver, Joshua Brown, was killed when a tractor trailer drove across a divided highway in front of his Model S, which was operating in autopilot. At heart, Autopilot is just a really good cruise control, capable of reading some road signs, steering, emergency braking, and following the auto in front. The company will be given until August 26 for Tesla to comply with the remainder of the queries. He warned, “When you put Autopilot in a vehicle, you’re telling people to trust the system even if there is lawyerly warning to keep your hands on the wheel”.
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Other questions include what Autopilot does when cameras and sensors aren’t working properly, how the system was tested, and how it filters out “false positive events and interventions”.
Tesla Motors is reportedly under investigation by the SEC for failing to report a fatal crash. The current stock is sitting at $224,78 as of 4:00 p.m.
In the nine-page letter detailing its information request, NHTSA asked for descriptions of the design of the driver-assist system, modifications made since they went into production, testing results and all reports and complaints of accidents involving the vehicles that may be due to the driver-assistance system.
When Tesla launched Autopilot in October, it said the system would allow the vehicle “to steer within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by using active, traffic-aware cruise control”. Tesla confirmed that the data it has from the vehicle shows it was in Autopilot mode, and that the driver likely did not have his hands on the wheel.
Tesla didn’t disclose the crash publicly until June 30, but it informed safety regulators May 16.
An investigation was made back then to determine whether the driver was using Tesla’s autopilot system. If the NHTSA probe finds defects with Tesla’s system, the agency could seek a recall.
Tesla held a secondary stock offering on May 18, listing $2 billion in stock that included 2.8 million shares owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania State Police said the Tesla driver, Albert Scaglione of Farmington Hills, Michigan, was charged with careless driving.
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“This was a physical impossibility given that the damage sustained by the Model S in the crash limited Tesla’s ability to recover data from it remotely”. The crash happened near Whitehall, MT, just after the Model X exited I-90. The filing didn’t mention the May 7 crash among the company’s risk factors. The driver – on a trip from Seattle – was issued an $85 ticket for careless driving. A company spokesperson confirmed that Tesla has not yet received any notification from the SEC about the probe.
