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[cormack12]

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56799749

Two men were killed after a Tesla car crashed into a tree and caught fire in Texas, and police believe there was nobody present in the driver's seat at the time of the accident.

The 2019 Tesla Model S was travelling at a high speed when it failed to negotiate a curve on a winding road. The victims, both in their 50s, were found in the front passenger seat and in the back of the vehicle.

Tesla did not respond immediately to the BBC's request for comment.

Evidence suggests that “no-one was driving the vehicle at the time of impact,” said Mark Herman, Harris County Precinct 4 constable, adding the case was still under investigation.
It is unclear whether Tesla's Autopilot feature was in use.

 

[AJUMP23]

Darwin award champion 2021.

 

[Kenpachii]

never understand why auto pilot is even legal to start with.

 

[Dural]

Of all the places to use auto pilot, a winding road?

 

[Punished Miku]

There is nothing left of that car. It looks like it was disintegrated.

 

[AJUMP23]

There is nothing left of that car. It looks like it was disintegrated.

Batteries burn hot.

 

[SebastianShaw]

Here we go, by by self driving

 

[CloudNull]

Man people are dumb. I don’t get how people think autopilot means self driving.

 

[Ionian]

Christ that looks horrific. What a way to go.

 

[SlimySnake]

I dont understand how this thing burned down? There is no gasoline.

The battery is really that flammable? Cant they put that thing in a flameproof box?

 

[xrnzaaas]

never understand why auto pilot is even legal to start with.

Because the local officials were bribed to approve it? Or they can't understand the dangers? Seeing how some of modern systems have difficulties even with lane keep assists I'm always asking myself why are autopilot features allowed. The technology is far from being flawless.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Self driving has HUGE expectations after Musk’s presentations.

 

[Furlong]

There is nothing left of that car. It looks like it was disintegrated.

Must be made of the same material as Elon's rockets.

 

[Diddy X]

What's the rate of accidents tho?

 

[AJUMP23]

Self driving has HUGE expectations after Musk’s presentations.

Certainly, but it is meant to be an assist right now, not an autonomous function. Using it as such is risking your life. See the example above.

 

[Cravis]

 

[poppabk]

I dont understand how this thing burned down? There is no gasoline.

The battery is really that flammable? Cant they put that thing in a flameproof box?

It's not so much it is flammable as it is a shit ton of energy stored and if it is released all at once the amount of heat generated will burn pretty much anything. The main problem with EV fires is that they are very difficult to put out as the ignition source is contained within the batteries. Some EVs have reignited 3 or 4 days after they were first put out.

 

[Hatemachine]

At least they save money on the funeral expenses - the cremation has already been taken care of.

 

[Fbh]

Stupid way to die, but I feel sorry for their families.


Honestly I do think this tech is worth investing in, but car manufacturers that include them should be forced to put some robust safety features in there to ensure the driver is actually in the seat (a weight sensor on the seat, or infrared sensors or something I don't know, I don't make cars). Also calling it anything that sounds like "Self driving" or "Auto pilot" seems misleading, should really call it "assisted driving", but that doesn't sound as exciting.

 

[Virt McPolygon]

Tesla really fucked up by calling it "Autopilot". I wonder how fast the car was driving.

 

[Ikutachi]

Honestly I do think this tech is worth investing in,

 

[GymWolf]

It's kinda bullshit that the car can reach dangerous velocity while fully knowing that nobody is really driving.

Make a fucking security system where the car doesn't surpass 10 km\h if someone doesn't have his ass in the right place...

 

[GHG]

I dont understand how this thing burned down? There is no gasoline.

The battery is really that flammable? Cant they put that thing in a flameproof box?

Lithium batteries can explode and the resulting fire is often far worse than a regular fire.

 

[Fbh]

Well I mean in the near future not much will change.
But I do think eventually self driving could be good for big cities. If every car uses auto pilot it should reduce traffic and accidents .

But the current state of it is just the first baby steps.

 

[SlimySnake]

Lithium batteries can explode and the resulting fire is often far worse than a regular fire.

Shit. My brother test drove a $60k tesla just yesterday. Surely they can afford to have better fire suppression/prevention in their ridiculously expensive cars.

 

[partime]

I bet the car wasn't even in Autopilot, it was residential between 2 houses with no lane markers.

Either the owner of the car escaped and isn't fessing up, or the 'driver' couldn't open the door and moved to a different one.

 

[Xyphie]

This is very predictable abuse given how much Musk gaslights the capabilities of AutoPilot (L5 autonomy any day now!). Not the first time this stuff happens either. Regulators should step in and curb this BS.

 

[teezzy]

RIP

 

[FreedomOfSpeech]

If it's not perfect, it should not be allowed!

Seems to be the standard for autonomous cars.
Uhm, hello... Humans are by far the worst drivers. Can't want until human driving in public is made illegal (or rather, unnecessary).

Humans wish they could have safety stats like Tesla.

 

[truth777]

I dont understand how this thing burned down? There is no gasoline.

The battery is really that flammable? Cant they put that thing in a flameproof box?

The battery system is basically an unquenchable fire once it gets going.

 

[GHG]

Shit. My brother test drove a $60k tesla just yesterday. Surely they can afford to have better fire suppression/prevention in their ridiculously expensive cars.

The systems they use for fire prevention are incredibly robust but in a high speed incident like this all that energy needs to go somewhere unfortunately. The location of the battery doesn't help either, they essentially run under the floor of the car.

 

[jason10mm]

This is like the plot to the worst murder cover-up EVER!.

Assassin #1: Put 'em in the car, make it look like an accident.

Assassin #2: Which one do I put in the driver's seat? Which one owned the car?

A#1: Who cares, it's a tesla! Just stick them anywhere in the car!

Or they were giving each other road head or some sex thing.....my money is on a sex thing.

 

[Frito_Pendejo]

I bet the car wasn't even in Autopilot, it was residential between 2 houses with no lane markers.

Either the owner of the car escaped and isn't fessing up, or the 'driver' couldn't open the door and moved to a different one.

Considering you need someone in the driver seat for the vehicle to operate and you have to be touching the steering wheel for autopilot to work there’s a lot missing from this story.

 

[RJMacready73]

What is it with these stupid fucking people!? I've seen a shit ton of Tesla's on the road throughout Ireland and the UK and I guarantee not one of the drivers would be fucking insane enough to belt down the motorway sitting in the back seat.. I mean, what gives?? Who honestly hands their lives over to a fucking car to drive them...

 

[Jon Canon]

I see reports from owners that it is not possible to let go of the wheel for an extended period of time and not possible to unbuckle the safety belt without the car automatically pulling over to a full stop. Smells a bit fishy.

 

[Frito_Pendejo]

I see reports from owners that it is not possible to let go of the wheel for an extended period of time and not possible to unbuckle the safety belt without the car automatically pulling over to a full stop. Smells a bit fishy.

Because it’s not.

 

[Rat Rage]

Self-driving cars you say? What could go wrong...

Imagine Russia had self-driving cars. It would be even easier for Putin to kill his opposition. Navalny would've had an "accident" long time ago.

 

[HoodWinked]

they probably wedged something into the steering wheel for it to engage the autopilot permanently. If someone is intentionally overriding the safety systems that's on them. there has to be some reasonable limit where it's the fault of the driver.

 

[poppabk]

Well I mean in the near future not much will change.
But I do think eventually self driving could be good for big cities. If every car uses auto pilot it should reduce traffic and accidents .

But the current state of it is just the first baby steps.

Yeah, compared to human drivers we are probably already there or pretty close. Human drivers are terrible - as driving miles went down last year, fatalities went up as apparently the only reason a lot of people don't drive at lethal speeds is all the traffic.
Tesla aren't helping with their marketing though, lane departure assist, adaptive cruise control etc are much better than autopilot.

 

[HoodWinked]

so another potential thing is that one person was in the passenger seat, it makes sense that if he reached over, he would pull the steering wheel down, thus turning the car right. which aligns with the car going off the road and into the sidewalk then into the tree.

 

[The Pleasure]

There is nothing left of that car. It looks like it was disintegrated.

Chinese steel made of Raditz confirmed.

 

[MilkLizard]

Man people are dumb. I don’t get how people think autopilot means self driving.

I mean it’s called autopilot...

they really shouldn’t be allowed to call it that. What happened to driving assistant?

 

[FreedomOfSpeech]

I dont understand how this thing burned down? There is no gasoline.

Think of it like this, a lot of energy is needed to propel the car and its cargo.

Gasoline has giant energy storage, utilized by burning it.
Tesla batteries also have giant energy storage. If the thing is busted properly, this energy is released. Think exploding phones.

 

[Alright]

I didn't know they made female Auto-pilots

 

[CloudNull]

they probably wedged something into the steering wheel for it to engage the autopilot permanently. If someone is intentionally overriding the safety systems that's on them. there has to be some reasonable limit where it's the fault of the driver.

I have a 2021 Subaru Ascent with their fancy computer crap and its the same thing. Car will damn near drive itself long as a hand is kept on the wheel. I assume Tesla has the same safety protocols.

 

[V4skunk]

I dont understand how this thing burned down? There is no gasoline.

The battery is really that flammable? Cant they put that thing in a flameproof box?

Battery's are incredibly dangerous, damaging to the environment and almost impossible to recycle.
And this is with out taking into consideration the mining of lithium and actual manufacturing of a battery.

 

[ipukespiders]

Humans are by far the worst drivers.

 

[EviLore]

Battery's are incredibly dangerous, damaging to the environment and almost impossible to recycle.

Batteries are so incredibly dangerous that every human being has one in their pocket without incident.

They’re not almost impossible to recycle. Redwood Materials is recycling 60 tons of lithium batteries per day.

 

[Mihos]

I have a 2021 Subaru Ascent with their fancy computer crap and its the same thing. Car will damn near drive itself long as a hand is kept on the wheel. I assume Tesla has the same safety protocols.

My mercedes does the same thing, it will drive itself, but will yell at you if you stop paying attention

 

[Shadowplay1979]

The percent of fatalities from people driving highly eclipses self driving when adjusted for ratio differences.....however, everytime someone dies this way its going to get plastered everywhere and the nihilists will invoke their usual doom and gloom about technological advancements. Imagine if everytime someone drove their gas cars into a tree it made national news.