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> So far, the highest-profile death in a self-driving car was when a Tesla crashed on May 7, 2016, while in Autopilot mode. Ugh why does the media keep repeati
by natch 7y ago
> So far, the highest-profile death in a self-driving car was when a Tesla crashed on May 7, 2016, while in Autopilot mode.
Ugh why does the media keep repeating incorrect information?
That was not a self driving car.
It was a car with a driver who was not paying attention.
The reasons for his not paying attention are up for debate (ranging from he perceived the car, incorrectly, as being self driving, to he was being careless, to the utterly crazy assertion that Tesla or Elon intentionally tricked him into thinking the car was self driving...).
Regardless of where the truth on the driver’s reasons lie, the underlying fact is that the car did not have self driving software installed on it yet.
- credit_guy 7y agoI think we've had this discussion a number of times on HN ( * ). Calling a certain driving mode "Autopilot" rather than "cruise control" sends a message. A lot, if not most people, perceive the message as being "self-driving car". The fact that Elon deemed fully autonomous self driving cars just around the corner a number of times certainly doesn't help. I personally lost track. Are we at full self-driving capability yet? Or is it in 2020? Should be any day now, right? Just for entertainment, here's a headline from the Tesla website from 2016: "All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware" [1]. I know, in the post they make clear that the software is not there yet, but how many on HN (and on the internet in general) are not a little bit guilty of reading only the headlines? [1] https://www.tesla.com/blog/all-tesla-cars-being-produced-now-have-full-self-driving-hardware https://www.tesla.com/blog/all-tesla-cars-being-produced-now... ( * ) by "we" I don't mean the two of us, just the HN community in general.
- natch 7y ago>A lot, if not most people, perceive the message as being "self-driving car" But it’s reasonable to expect better than this from the media.