Feb 13, 2020 12:30:00

It is clear that Apple's engineer who was frustrated about Tesla's autopilot was killed in a model X collision

Tesla, an electric car manufacturer, is one of the first to implement the 'autopilot function' on its own vehicles, but drivers often report that this function 'misidentifies lanes.' It is

known that this 'lane misidentification' has caused Tesla's electric vehicles to cause many traffic accidents, and investigations into these collisions are ongoing at the time of writing. And a newly released research report shows that anyone who died in a Tesla crash had complained about the company's autopilot capabilities.

NTSB Opens Public Docket for 2 Ongoing Tesla Crash Investigations
https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/default.aspx

Apple Engineer Killed in Tesla Crash Had Previously Complained About Autopilot | KQED News
https://www.kqed.org/news/11801138/apple-engineer-killed-in-tesla-crash-had-previously-complained-about-autopilot

On February 11, 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates transportation-related accidents in the United States, issued a report on two car accidents caused by Tesla Model X in 2017 and 2018. released.

Two cases were investigated: a model X crash in Delray Beach, Florida in 2017, and a model X crash near Mountain View in March 2018. In the first accident, driver Jeremy Banner died, and in the second accident Walter Fan, who worked as an engineer at Apple, died.

Regarding the two collision accidents reported by the NTSB, the following article analyzed `` details of the error that occurred at the time of the collision '', and said `` Strong light such as sunlight or lighting entered the camera Under some circumstances, there are cases where computers make mistakes. '

It turns out that the accident of Tesla Model X where the driver died occurred in the same situation as in the past case-GIGAZINE

According to a report by the NTSB, Fan told his wife before the accident, `` When driving on National Highway 101 with an autopilot, Model X was running toward the median (which caused the collision). It was clear that he was talking about a problem with the autopilot function of the Model X.

According to a lawyer, Fan also told his brothers and friends about the malfunction that occurred with the Model X autopilot, and it was enough to discuss the autopilot software patch with friends of software engineers.

In addition, based on the analysis of the fans' iPhones collected at the accident site, NTSB points out that 'the fans may have used the iPhone at the time of the collision.' Since the carrier used by the fan was AT & T, a survey of the company's records revealed that data communication was taking place when the Model X was running. However, the NTSB reports that 'we could not determine what the data communication was for.' In addition, it seems that the fan's iPhone last performed data communication one minute before the collision accident occurred.

The autopilot feature on Tesla's vehicles is an automated driving system designed to keep a safe distance from vehicles traveling ahead. It is possible to change lanes with the approval of the driver, Tesla mentions that the autopilot function is `` intended to be used to support the driver '', and the driver always steps on the steering wheel You need to be prepared to do it.

Tesla also issued a

statement saying that he blamed the deceased driver after the accident in March 2018, saying that 'the driver did not follow the warnings emitted by the car' and 'does not put his hand on the steering wheel'. Furthermore, in October 2018, a safety report was released, and criticized autopilots announced that the accident rate would be reduced by more than 70%.

Tesla publishes safety report, autopilot reduces accident rate by more than 70%-gigazine

The NTSB is scheduled to conduct a hearing survey on the collision of the Model X on February 25, 2020, where the cause of the accident will be identified and safety recommendations will be made.