According to Tesla, research shows that in the accident of a Model X, in which the driver crashed, Autopilot was on. The driver would also have received some warnings from the car, but they ignored them.
The popular electric car maker said that several “visual and audible” warnings were issued to the driver in the accident in the US state of California, which were allegedly ignored. However, Tesla does not elaborate on this, making it unclear whether the warnings actually related to the approaching accident, or whether they are unrelated.
The software also detected that the driver was not on the wheel in the six seconds before the crash. However, the company does not elaborate on what Tesla’s smart software did to prevent or not prevent the accident. However, the driver would have had good visibility for 150 meters before the Model X crashed.
Earlier this week, Tesla said it was difficult to determine the cause of the accident because it had not yet seen the logs, and therefore did not know whether Autopilot was on. That seems to be the case now, given the released data. Nevertheless, not all questions have been clarified, as there is no information about the actions of the Autopilot system and why the driver did not follow the warnings given.
The accident was so serious, according to Tesla, as a result of failing to repair a ripple tube obstacle protector after another accident. This so-called rimob is intended to reduce the force of a collision with, for example, a concrete road fence. According to US media, the Model X hit such a fence and was then hit by two other vehicles.
The American NHTSA, or National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, has already started an investigation into the role of Autopilot after an owner of a Model S was involved in an accident. Then authorities found that both the driver and the software were to blame for the crash. The NHTSA has said it will also investigate the Model X crash in California.
Recently, an Uber self-driving test car was involved in an accident, in which a 49-year-old woman was killed after being hit by a car. The tests were then stopped. Nvidia also announced that it will stop testing self-driving cars for the time being.