Tragedy strikes Tesla Motors

Engineering News

Tragedy strikes Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors, headed by it's visionary CEO Elon Musk, have transformed the motoring industry through their critically acclaimed Tesla Model S, a four-door electric sports car. The car combines performance and technology to provide a futuristic vehicle that might pose a threat to the Internal Combustion Engine, as the 90D version of the Model S has an impressive range of 294 miles (EPA). However, one of its most defining features and selling points was the Autopilot, which allowed for semi-autonomous driving.

Tesla could be regarded as pioneers to an ever-growing "autonomous driving" industry but Autopilot is not completely autonomous and still requires the full attention of the driver. It combines cruise control with lane departure assistance, which means that it can maintain a safe distance in "car lengths" from the car in front and also make a lane change. This could be done by manually activating the indicators. Through the use of cameras, sensors and radar, the car makes the necessary adjustments and completes the lane change. It is also highly reliant on the road's white dotted markings. The car also takes evasive actions when required, for example if somebody wanders onto your lane.

This revolutionary technology is not foolproof and Tesla never claimed it to be either. It was always marketed as a public beta. In fact, the feature is disabled by default. However, several owners performed viral stunts with the feature, such as speeding down the highway at 75 miles per hour hands-free. This raised massive safety concerns but must of these were unheeded until now, as tragedy struck 40-year old Joshua Brown on 7th May in Williston, Florida. He died after his Model S with Autopilot enabled, collided into a tractor trailer. The tractor driver, Frank Baressi, claimed that Brown was playing Harry Potter on the TV screen at the time of the accident.Tesla believe that the accident happened as neither the driver nor Autopilot noticed the white tractor trailer, which was why the brakes weren't applied. It was the first fatal crash for the company, and it occurred after 130 million miles. However, there is a fatality among all vehicles approximately every 60 million miles worldwide. Only time will tell if this was a rare incident or whether it is only the start of many more autonomous driving related accidents.