Comment on Tesla loses Autopilot wrongful death case in $329 million verdict
Luckaneer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks agoI think the bigger issue is that Tesla might be diminishing the drivers impression of their vehicle responsibility with their marketing/presentation of auto pilot.
I say that knowing very little about what it’s like to use auto pilot but if it is the case that there are changes that can be made that will result in less deaths then maybe the guys lawyer has a point.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You gotta remember we’re also back in 2019. Most of the talk back then was about what it was going to be able to do when FSD was ready, but no one got access to it until 2020 and that was a very small invite only group, and it lasted like that for years. I’d say the potential for confusion today is immensely more.
I have used AP back then, and it was good, but it clearly made lots of little mistakes, and needed constant little adjustments. If you were paying attention, they were all easy to manage and you even get to know when to expect problems and take corrective action in advance.
My the big beef with this case, is that he kept his food on the accelerator, and the car tells you while you do this, that it won’t brake, and having your foot on the accelerator is a common practice, as AP can be slow to start, or you need to pass someone etc, so it’s really unfathomable to think that the first time this guy ever did this, was when he decided to try and pick up his dropped phone, and thought, I should keep my foot on the accelerator while doing this! No amount of marketing, should be able to override “Autopilot will not brake. Accelerator pedal pressed” type active warnings.
That being said - The NHSTA has found that Tesla’s monitoring system was lacking, and Tesla has had to improve on that because of that. People would attach oranges to the steering wheel to defeat the nag to pay attention type thing back then, but this goes well beyond that IMO.
Had his foot not been on the accelerator, this would have been a very different case.