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My car gets irritated that I let go of the steering wheel for a few seconds. I've never dared to see how it reacts to a continued violation but presumably it co

My car gets irritated that I let go of the steering wheel for a few seconds. I've never dared to see how it reacts to a continued violation but presumably it could disengage the gas or engage the brakes. Doesn't Tesla have some kind of seat or steering wheel sensor to prevent this? Could the owner have defeated the checks somehow?

ajross 6y ago
They do have a steering wheel sensor. And yes, it can be defeated. Per the article this happened on a cul de sac in a residential neighborhood. My question is how on earth they managed to get the vehicle to a fatal speed in that environment (seriously: Google the address, there's almost no runway available). It seems likely they were playing with launch mode and not autopilot, or perhaps manually messing with the accelerator from the passenger seat. This definitely doesn't smell like an "autopilot" failure, though we'll have to wait for details. (In fact as others are pointing out based on the location of the damage: it actually seems not unlikely that there was a human driver who fled the scene.)
- ethagknight 6y ago
  Well Teslas are known for their incredible acceleration, and then if the occupants weren’t wearing seatbelts, even a relatively low speed crash can cause severe injury.
  - ajross 6y ago
    Tesla autopilot doesn't exploit that, though. The question is how they launched the car, and how they managed to launch it into a tree. You just can't do that with autopilot to my eyes.
    - camjohnson26 6y ago
      How fast would they need to be going for this to be fatal? I could definitely see autopilot missing this turn and crashing into the tree, and it’s possible they were trapped inside rather than killed on impact.
      - ajross 6y ago
        The whole front corner wrapped around the tree. That's a highway-style crash, so figure 50+ mph I'm guessing? I have a hard time imagining the front passenger survived the impact given the way the cockpit collapsed, but maybe the back passenger was trapped.
    - fassssst 6y ago
      Software can have bugs...
fuzzfactor 6y ago
>My car gets irritated that I let go of the steering wheel for a few seconds. My passengers get irritated.

ajross 6y ago

They do have a steering wheel sensor. And yes, it can be defeated. Per the article this happened on a cul de sac in a residential neighborhood. My question is how on earth they managed to get the vehicle to a fatal speed in that environment (seriously: Google the address, there's almost no runway available). It seems likely they were playing with launch mode and not autopilot, or perhaps manually messing with the accelerator from the passenger seat. This definitely doesn't smell like an "autopilot" failure, though we'll have to wait for details. (In fact as others are pointing out based on the location of the damage: it actually seems not unlikely that there was a human driver who fled the scene.)

ethagknight 6y ago
Well Teslas are known for their incredible acceleration, and then if the occupants weren’t wearing seatbelts, even a relatively low speed crash can cause severe injury.
- ajross 6y ago
  Tesla autopilot doesn't exploit that, though. The question is how they launched the car, and how they managed to launch it into a tree. You just can't do that with autopilot to my eyes.
  - camjohnson26 6y ago
    How fast would they need to be going for this to be fatal? I could definitely see autopilot missing this turn and crashing into the tree, and it’s possible they were trapped inside rather than killed on impact.
    - ajross 6y ago
      The whole front corner wrapped around the tree. That's a highway-style crash, so figure 50+ mph I'm guessing? I have a hard time imagining the front passenger survived the impact given the way the cockpit collapsed, but maybe the back passenger was trapped.
  - fassssst 6y ago
    Software can have bugs...

fuzzfactor 6y ago

>My car gets irritated that I let go of the steering wheel for a few seconds. My passengers get irritated.