Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA investigating

Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by roadnottaken on Thursday June 30, 2016 @05:51PM (#12012079)

"This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated," states a post on Tesla's corporate website. "Among all vehicles in the U.S., there is a fatality every 94 million miles. Worldwide, there is a fatality approximately every 60 million miles. It is important to emphasize that the NHTSA action is simply a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the system worked according to expectations."

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by burnguy123 on Thursday June 30, 2016 @05:59PM (#12012139)

From what I understand, the autopilot can only be used on highways. I would suspect that highway travel is much safer per mile in the first place. Are we comparing highway driving with autopilot to regular mixed city/highway driving?

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by semi-extrinsic on Thursday June 30, 2016 @06:03PM (#12012167)

Also, those averages are over the entire car population, with a median age of around ten years and an average crash safety rating relatively far below that of a Model S.

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by seizethecheese on Thursday June 30, 2016 @06:05PM (#12012189)

Highways are the most dangerous environment. High speed combined with cross traffic. City streets don't have enough speed usually for crashes be lethal.

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by malka on Friday July 01, 2016 @03:47AM (#12014479)

what ? highways in the US have cross traffic ? In my country, the ABSENCE of such traffic is almost the definition for highways.

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by ferrisford on Friday July 01, 2016 @10:20AM (#12016207)

It's common to use the term 'freeway' or 'Interstate' (meaning Interstate Highway/Freeway) to refer to controlled access highways in the US.

There's lots of highways in the US that are just 2 lanes, one in each direction, with a speed limit of 55mph and cross traffic from smaller roads that should stop first before turning on the highway in either direction. These are what we usually mean with the word 'highway'.

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by knd775 on Thursday June 30, 2016 @06:08PM (#12012215)

Highway accidents are more likely to be fatal, though. Since we are talking about fatalities and not just accidents, this is definitely a factor.

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by roadnottaken on Thursday June 30, 2016 @06:00PM (#12012145)

Good question

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by steve19 on Thursday June 30, 2016 @06:01PM (#12012153)

Are users running Autopilot during hazardous conditions such as heavy rain and snow?

If not, comparing auto pilot deaths with average deaths per mile is disingenuous.

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by cynix on Thursday June 30, 2016 @11:38PM (#12013725)

Yes. Apparently Autopilot sees lane markings better than humans in heavy rain.

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by bennettfeely on Friday July 01, 2016 @06:54AM (#12015051)

And snow and ice?

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Re:Tesla driver killed in crash with Autopilot active, NHTSA... by tdaltonc on Thursday June 30, 2016 @06:05PM (#12012195)

What would be an ingenuous comparison?

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