TPT September 2016

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94 SEPTEMBER 2016
G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E
Automot i ve
Three roadway accidents, one of them fatal,
have in common the ambiguously named
Autopilot feature from Tesla
In the third accident reported over a two-week period involving
a Tesla Motors car operating in semi-autonomous Autopilot
mode, on 10 July the driver of a Tesla Model X and
his passenger escaped injury in a one-vehicle accident in
Montana. According to Montana State Trooper Jade Schope,
the driver said he activated Autopilot on setting out from
Seattle, Washington.
As reported by the driver, he was exiting a two-lane highway
after midnight when the fully electric SUV began veering to
the right and hit a wooden guardrail before coming to a stop.
Mr Schope told the Detroit Free Press, “He lost the right
front wheel and there was extensive damage to the front of
the vehicle.” (“Another Tesla Veers Off Road, Crashes Into
Guardrail in Montana,” 11 July)
Earlier, Joshua Brown died on 7 May in Williston, Florida, when
the Autopilot system of his Tesla Model S failed to detect a
tractor-trailer turning in front of the luxury all-electric sedan. The
investigation found that Mr Brown had been watching a video in
the car at the time of the crash. It has not yet been established
whether the accident was the fault of the car’s technology, Mr
Brown, or the driver of the tractor-trailer hit by the car.
In the third episode, on 1 July two men were injured when
a Tesla Model X hit a guardrail along the Pennsylvania
Turnpike, crossed over several lanes, then hit a concrete
median and rolled onto its roof, taking extensive damage.
The driver told a Pennsylvania state trooper that the car was
operating in Autopilot mode. Greg Gardner of the Free Press
noted that, while it is unclear whether driver error contributed
to the crash, according to a police report released on 11 July
a careless driving citation was issued.
HANDS-OFF OR HANDS-ON?
Autopilot is not in fact an autonomous-vehicle (AV) technology
but employs computer software, sensors, cameras and radar
to, in Tesla’s words, “automatically steer down the highway,
change lanes, and adjust speed in response to traffic.” These
features are said to reduce the driver’s workload and help to
avoid hazards. But Tesla advises that Autopilot is meant to
be used with eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel.
That is not enough for Consumer Reports. “‘Autopilot’ can’t
actually drive the car, yet it allows consumers to have their
hands off the steering wheel for minutes at a time,” wrote
Laura MacCleery, vice-president of consumer policy and
mobilisation for the advocacy group, in a 14 July statement.
“Tesla should disable automatic steering in its cars until it
updates the program to verify that the driver’s hands are on
the wheel.”
Consumer Reports experts believe that Tesla drivers are
confused by conflicting messages: one saying that Autopilot
is driving the car; the other, that the controls may need to
be wrested back at a moment’s notice. As a result, noted Mr
Gardner of the Free Press, “Drivers using Autopilot may not
be engaged enough to react quickly to emergency situations.”
› Consumer Reports also urged that Tesla rename the
technology – another recommendation which Tesla co-
founder and CEO Elon Musk did not take up. Declaring that
the company has no plans to disable Autopilot, Mr Musk told
the Wall Street Journal that it would publish a blog instructing
Tesla owners in the safe use of Autopilot.
The Tesla CEO did make one concession, however. In Twitter
posts on 14 July, Mr Musk said the company was working on
improvements to the radar system of Autopilot.
As car ownership loses some appeal,
automakers hedge their bets with
the likes of Uber, Gett and Lyft
Two of the world’s largest automakers, Toyota and
Volkswagen, announced they are investing in technology
start-ups whose mission is to change the habits of the driving
public. Toyota said it had formed a partnership with and
invested an undisclosed amount in the world’s biggest ride-
hailing company – Uber, of the US. Gett, the Israel-based
startup that connects customers with taxi drivers, said that it
has attracted $300mn from Volkswagen.
Similar initiatives remarked by the New York Times include
General Motors, which in January invested $500mn in San
Francisco-based Lyft, the ride-hailing app. Ford Motor is
making over its Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters into a
Silicon Valley-like campus traversed by self-driving shuttles.
Fiat Chrysler and Google have an agreement to produce
a test fleet of driverless minivans. In Germany, BMW and
Mercedes-Benz have started to pilot-test ride services.
As noted by Times reporters Mike Isaac and Neal E Boudette,
these alliances form a string of pairings between technology
companies and car companies scrambling to reposition
themselves. The traditional automakers, they wrote, “are
looking toward a technology-driven future, one where they
increasingly acknowledge that getting around may not require
owning a car.” (“Automakers Befriend Start-Ups Like Uber,
Girding Against a Changing Car Culture,” 24 May)
They are some years short of a payoff on their investment,
according to Karl Brauer, an analyst at the car valuation
firm Kelley Blue Book who sees no early sign that “mobility
services” – car-sharing and ride-sharing – are hurting the
automotive industry. Auto sales in the US hit a record
high in 2015 and are rising this year. And China and other
international markets will likely ensure continued growth in the
global auto market.
Even so, Mr Brauer said, auto makers are investing in
companies like Uber “to be ahead of the curve” if and when
the startups do shake up the norms of car ownership. He told
the Times, “History has shown that if you wait for the market
to decide, you’re dead.”