Tesla Partner: Autopilot Not Designed For Circumstances of Model S Crash

After the fatal accident involving a Model S and its Autopilot feature, the system’s co-developer, Mobileye, told TechCrunch in a statement that the system wasn’t designed for such scenarios. The incident, which is now under investigation by government authorities, happened when a tractor trailer made a left turn at an intersection without any traffic lights right in front of the Model S. Tesla said that neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the tractor trailer, which caused the Model S to dive underneath it, resulting in the windshield hitting the bottom of the trailer.

The automatic emergency braking feature in the Model S was designed specifically to avoid rear-end collisions, and yesterday’s incident was one that it couldn’t prevent, according to the statement sent to TechCrunch by Mobileye’s chief communications officer, Dan Galves. He also said that the May 7 incident involved a vehicle crossing laterally, and that current automatic emergency braking systems aren’t designed to react to that kind of hazard. However, by 2018, Mobileye will include Lateral Turn Across Path detection capability in its automatic emergency braking systems, and the feature will also be included as part of the Euro NCAP safety ratings in 2020.

Tesla released a statement yesterday mourning the loss of the driver and reiterating that even with Autopilot active, the driver’s full attention is still required. The EV maker has also announced the launch of update 8.0, according to a report from Electrek. Like previous updates, 8.0 will be added over-the-air and add new features to the car, including additional functions for Autopilot. While we don’t know the true extent of this update yet, one of the features will allow the car to exit off a freeway when in Autopilot once the turn signal is activated. Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer have also been upgraded so that the car will operate in traffic more smoothly.

Electrek also notes that Tesla is referring to software 8.0 as the biggest update to its user interface since the Model S launched. Additional upgrades in the 8.0 update include improved voice commands that no longer require the driver to hold a button to use, and it now shows a transcript of what the system thinks you said on the dashboard. The media player was also updated, but U.S. owners miss out on Spotify, which is available on European-spec Teslas. The TuneIn app for podcasts will also receive an upgrade that now lets you search through artists, songs, and albums.

Currently, update 8.0 is still undergoing beta testing, and it’s unclear if all of its features will make it live. Electrek, however, says that the release may only be a few weeks away or a few months at most. It’s unclear if any of the Autopilot updates are in response to the fatal crash.

Source: TechCrunch, Electrek

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