Court Rules That Yes, Tesla’s Autopilot Will Occasionally Crash Your Car
Just something to keep in mind.
Published 7 minutes ago in Wtf
For years, Tesla has been telling drivers that its autopilot system — which dares to call itself “Full Self-Driving” even though it can’t do that — is perfectly safe. Sure, do you basically have to keep your hands on the wheel at all times to prevent yourself from slamming into a wall at 140 mph? Yes, but look! It can merge by itself! How cool is that?
Unfortunately for Tesla, the role of its autopilot system has been debated in numerous crashes. For its part, Tesla says that its self-driving mode is safer than a human driver, while critics accuse the company of doing things like “turn off the self-driving mode right before an accident” in order to make the experimental software seem safer than it is.
Well, now a jury has decided that, no matter what Tesla says, its autopilot was partially at fault for a fatal 2019 car crash.
According to NPR, a federal jury found that Tesla was largely responsible for the accident due to the failure of its technology, stating that the reckless driver shouldn’t bear all of the blame. As a result, Tesla was ordered to pay around $240 million — though the company says they plan to appeal
If their appeal fails, it’s likely that this will be a major hit against all self-driving technology — so, if you have a Tesla, make sure to use your self-driving while you can!
Actually, for the safety of yourself and everyone else on the road, don’t.