5 ms·

FWIW, this case is considered to be notable because it is the first fatal car crash in which Tesla Autopilot was involved, and in which the driver faces felony

by danso 4y ago

FWIW, this case is considered to be notable because it is the first fatal car crash in which Tesla Autopilot was involved, and in which the driver faces felony charges. The charges were first announced in January [0]; today's news is that a judge is allowing it to go to trial. In the submitted article, it says a Tesla engineer testified that Autopilot was activated "about 20 minutes before the crash". I assume that means it was active 20 minutes before, and into the moment of impact. If this case does actually reach trial, I guess it'll be interesting howhat the jury will be instructed in weighing the use of Autopilot against the allegation of "gross negligence" [0] https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopilot-fatal-crash-charges-91b4a0341e07244f3f03051b5c2462ae https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopilot-fatal-crash-charg...

soheil 4y ago
> howhat Did you just invent a new word or have I been living under a rock?
- danso 4y ago
  LOL I originally typed "what" and then realized "how" would be better, and apparently my ADHD kicked in
  - the_only_law 4y ago
    Nowadays I just blame my phone keyboard, and it’s bad it enough that if often ends up true.
    - singlow 4y ago
      case in point?
      - the_only_law 4y ago
        Exactly :)
- banannaise 4y ago
  apparently the King of the Hill is posting on HN now.
HomeGear 4y ago
Here’s an important part: >Riad had initially set his car’s speed to 77 mph; he then set it to 78 mph, and then finally changed the speed to 75 mph. At the time of the crash, the car was going approximately 74 mph. For me, I’d convict. This isn’t a case of ‘autopilot’ as much as it’s a case where a person purposely (with intent) set his speed above legal limits and did not maintain the attention while doing so.. causing the death of two individuals on their first date. Tragic.
- mleo 4y ago
  He was on a freeway when it was set, but still above since the speed is 65. The freeway transitions into a surface street and this seemingly occurred at the first light after the transition.
  - shadowgovt 4y ago
    Exactly. And from a systems standpoint, if we're blaming the autopilot we should also consider how much blame should be allocated to the traffic engineer that clubbed a 65MPH California freeway directly into a 45MPH local business street with no traffic-calming measures or other mechanism to signal to a sleepy human brain that the rules of the road had changed besides a lone speed limit sign and a "Good luck sport!" attitude. It'd be interesting to pull history on that first stoplight and see how many accidents have occurred there in the past five years. (It turns out that's possible. California provides a GIS data digest of fatal accidents maintained by UC Berkeley. Data collection ends at 2021, but the 2016-2021 data set shows 22 crashes coming up on that intersection. https://tims.berkeley.edu/tools/gismap/ https://tims.berkeley.edu/tools/gismap/). Or we could limit the assignation of blame to the individual who is solely responsible for controlling his multi-ton high-speed vehicle at all times when operating in public thoroughfares.
    - nradov 4y ago
      You can just check the Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) to pull the history of serious crashes at any location in California. https://tims.berkeley.edu/ https://tims.berkeley.edu/
mikeryan 4y ago
I have a hard time seeing this case going to trial. From the article it seems no plea deals have been put on the table, likely because both sides wanted to see the results of this ruling first. I’m guessing the criminal trial pleads out and the Autopilot issue will get more run in the civil complaints. I wouldn’t be surprised if Riad, the Tesla driver, files his own suit against Tesla to try to foist more culpability on to them.

by danso 4y ago

soheil 4y ago

> howhat Did you just invent a new word or have I been living under a rock?

danso 4y ago
LOL I originally typed "what" and then realized "how" would be better, and apparently my ADHD kicked in
- the_only_law 4y ago
  Nowadays I just blame my phone keyboard, and it’s bad it enough that if often ends up true.
  - singlow 4y ago
    case in point?
    - the_only_law 4y ago
      Exactly :)
banannaise 4y ago
apparently the King of the Hill is posting on HN now.

HomeGear 4y ago

Here’s an important part: >Riad had initially set his car’s speed to 77 mph; he then set it to 78 mph, and then finally changed the speed to 75 mph. At the time of the crash, the car was going approximately 74 mph. For me, I’d convict. This isn’t a case of ‘autopilot’ as much as it’s a case where a person purposely (with intent) set his speed above legal limits and did not maintain the attention while doing so.. causing the death of two individuals on their first date. Tragic.

mleo 4y ago
He was on a freeway when it was set, but still above since the speed is 65. The freeway transitions into a surface street and this seemingly occurred at the first light after the transition.
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  Exactly. And from a systems standpoint, if we're blaming the autopilot we should also consider how much blame should be allocated to the traffic engineer that clubbed a 65MPH California freeway directly into a 45MPH local business street with no traffic-calming measures or other mechanism to signal to a sleepy human brain that the rules of the road had changed besides a lone speed limit sign and a "Good luck sport!" attitude. It'd be interesting to pull history on that first stoplight and see how many accidents have occurred there in the past five years. (It turns out that's possible. California provides a GIS data digest of fatal accidents maintained by UC Berkeley. Data collection ends at 2021, but the 2016-2021 data set shows 22 crashes coming up on that intersection. https://tims.berkeley.edu/tools/gismap/ https://tims.berkeley.edu/tools/gismap/). Or we could limit the assignation of blame to the individual who is solely responsible for controlling his multi-ton high-speed vehicle at all times when operating in public thoroughfares.
  - nradov 4y ago
    You can just check the Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) to pull the history of serious crashes at any location in California. https://tims.berkeley.edu/ https://tims.berkeley.edu/

mikeryan 4y ago

I have a hard time seeing this case going to trial. From the article it seems no plea deals have been put on the table, likely because both sides wanted to see the results of this ruling first. I’m guessing the criminal trial pleads out and the Autopilot issue will get more run in the civil complaints. I wouldn’t be surprised if Riad, the Tesla driver, files his own suit against Tesla to try to foist more culpability on to them.