There is nothing supernatural about Tesla automobiles, but one has to wonder whether the company is turning out Christine-mobiles because of software faults that may pop up.
Two days ago I waited at a stop sign to turn after an oncoming car passed by. I happened to notice that it was a Tesla as I pulled out behind it. The state highway's speed limit was 50 so the Tesla pulled away smartly as I accelerated.
Before long the road curved to the right but the Tesla did not. It crossed the double-yellow centerline with both front and the left rear wheels before the driver apparently intervened and brought the car back into its lane. Luckily there was no car coming the other way so no harm was done.
Tesla features an unfortunately-named electronic package called Autopilot that it promotes as 100-percent capable of driving its cars wholly without human intervention. And in the company's website video it does, most impressively:
I have no idea whether the driver of the Tesla in front of me this week had Autopilot engaged; he may have simply been inattentive. But as you can imagine, lawyers have been all over perceived defects in Autopilot's operation.
Here is the latest: "Tesla owner files lawsuit in California claiming sudden acceleration."
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc was sued on Friday by a Model X owner who said his electric SUV suddenly accelerated while being parked, causing it to crash through the garage into the owner's living room, injuring the driver and a passenger.That said, self-driving cars are coming whether we want them or not. Every major manufacturer is working on them. And whatever erratic commands Autopilot may or may not send, the system never nods off, never rubbernecks at cops stopping someone for speeding, never leaves task. As this video shows - listen for the warning beeps before the wreck occurs.
The Model X owner, Ji Chang Son, said that one night in September, he slowly pulled into his driveway as his garage door opened when the car suddenly sped forward.
"The vehicle spontaneously began to accelerate at full power, jerking forward and crashing through the interior wall of the garage, destroying several wooden support beams in the wall and a steel sewer pipe, among other things, and coming to rest in Plaintiffs' living room," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, seeks class action status. It cites seven other complaints registered in a database compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) dealing with sudden acceleration without warning.
The Tesla's radar and computer computed that the following car would hit the leading one and started braking the Tesla before it happened. Could an alert driver have done the same thing? Probably, but probably not likely.
But I predicted the new legal field way back in 2005:
If there will be self-driving cars then there will be self-crashing cars. Automakers will rethink making such cars when their legal departments start to figure out where tort law will go on this technology. And the lawyers will love it of a whole new field of case law is opened up.Indeed, they already do.
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