The Palo Alto, Calif.-based automaker, run by Elon Musk, has emphasized that Autopilot is still in a beta phase of introduction and has limitations. The Committee also wants to know the actions taken by Tesla following the incident.
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“Autopilot’ can’t actually drive the vehicle, yet it allows consumers to have their hands off the steering wheel for minutes at a time”. The system has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of a fatal May 7 crash in Florida, which US safety regulators are investigating. After the Brown crash, critics accused Tesla of giving drivers access to a system that wasn’t ready, while supporters contended the company was improving automotive safety. This crash has also been under NHTSA investigation to see if the Autopilot system was operational during the crash. Moreover, it is saying that the system should not be called Autopilot in the first place.
Consumer Reports believes that the term “Autopilot” should not have been used as a name to Tesla’s supposed autonomous driving system.
Until the company updates the program to verify that hands should be on the wheel, Consumer Reports’ recommendation is that the feature should be disabled.
The feature’s name along with Tesla’s marketing around Autopilot creates a “dangerously premature assumption that the Model S was capable of truly driving on its own”.
American electric carmaker Tesla has stated that it will not disable its Autopilot feature after non-profit consumer magazine Consumer Reports published an article demanding the company to do so. “While we appreciate well-meaning advice from any individual or group, we make our decisions on the basis of real-world data, not speculation by media”.
Though advanced active safety technology in vehicles could eventually make roads safer, today “we’re deeply concerned that consumers are being sold a pile of promises about unproven technology”, said Laura MacCleery, vice president of consumer policy and mobilization for the organization, in a statement.
The magazine notes that the best strategy for Tesla would be to disable the Autopilot steering technology, revamp it and even rebrand it.
Tesla Motors has been asked by a U.S. Senate Committee to brief it on the circumstances leading to a fatal accident that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S, while the vehicle’s Autopilot driver-assistance software was turned on.
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“As road conditions became increasingly uncertain, the vehicle again alerted the driver to put his hands on the wheel”. “But the release also states that the driver ‘is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the auto'”.
