Advocacy group: Tesla’s self-driving feature overlooks children
According to interest group The Dawn Project, Tesla’s self-driving software may pose a threat to children crossing the street. In safety tests, a stationary doll the size of a child was repeatedly hit by a Tesla.
Update, August 10: Electrek reports that the Full Self-Driving feature may not have been enabled during The Dawn Project’s security testing. In the video of The Dawn Project, there is no indicator that the autopilot is engaged. In that case, the test results of The Dawn Project do not give a good picture of reality.
The original message follows below.
In safety testing by The Dawn Project, the latest software from Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature missed a child-sized doll several times. At an average speed of 40 km/h, the doll was hit repeatedly. According to the organization, the software did nothing to evade the ‘child’. Dan O’Dowd, the founder of The Dawn Project, calls the results ‘deeply disturbing’.
According to O’Dowd, Tesla’s autopilot is a “deadly threat to all Americans”: “More than 100,000 Tesla drivers are using the car’s fully self-driving mode on public roads, putting children across the country at great risk.” The Dawn Project believes that the feature should be taken off the market immediately to avoid deadly consequences.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States is currently investigating Tesla’s four current model lines. There have been at least 30 Tesla accidents since 2016. The US road safety authority suspects that the autopilot was engaged in these cases.
A California regulator also finds the advertising for Tesla’s self-driving feature misleading, because Elon Musk’s company suggests that the vehicles can drive more autonomously than is actually the case. Currently, Full Self-Driving is still in beta. Tesla owners can unlock the feature for $12,000. The vehicle can then steer, accelerate and brake independently. However, someone has to be behind the wheel.
Source: The Dawn Project