Driver killed in Tesla Autopilot crash was playing smartphone game at the time

[Ravey]

I find it equally amazing that NTSB hasn't banned the use of the term "autopilot" without proof that it is indeed that very same thing. There are too many terms that are abused, just like "lifetime guarantee" that is then allowed to be re-defined by the Mfg. to mean something far less. Of course if our Consumer Protection Agency were allowed to actually do their jobs all of this would come to an abrupt halt but the poor elected representatives would loose too much money so it hasn't a chance .......

I agree, this could easily be renamed "Driver Assist" - My current car has Adaptive Cruise Control. of course simply renaming a feature is still not going to change the behavior of the more dense drivers on the road.

A thought the comes to my mind is setting up a camera feature that tracks the drivers eyes, if the driver is not looking ahead for a set amount of time then care so issue a loud warning like "Are you paying attention?" and if driver behavior does change then car could safely pull over and stop until the driver takes over. I think I heard of a few car manufacturers that tried to play around with a similar feature to alert drivers that may be falling asleep at the wheel? So if closed eyes of the driver were detected, all kinds of alarms went off in the car?

 

[Jeff Re]

A thought the comes to my mind is setting up a camera feature that tracks the drivers eyes, if the driver is not looking ahead for a set amount of time then care so issue a loud warning like "Are you paying attention?" and if driver behavior does change then car could safely pull over and stop until the driver takes over.

Except I can't count the number of times I've been next do a driver who was looking down at a phone and when I honked they weren't even phased nor did they look up.

 

[Capaill]

Except I can't count the number of times I've been next do a driver who was looking down at a phone and when I honked they weren't even phased nor did they look up.

Something new I've been seeing lately on the roads is drivers mounting phones or tablets on their sun visors, playing movies.

 

[3ogdy]

Thankfully the driver was killed. Maybe , just MAYBE, at some point people will realize they're being extremely irresponsible for doing such things as playing games on their phones while leaving their own lives to a machine taking them down the highway at 60MPH. That's without even getting into how these same people endanger other people's lives with such behavior.

The only thing I feel sorry about when I hear about cases like this one is the other traffic participants that could've seen themselves affected directly or indirectly.

NATURAL SELECTION by Tesla.
Thank you.

 

[mailpup]

Thankfully the driver was killed. Maybe , just MAYBE, at some point people will realize they're being extremely irresponsible for doing such things as playing games on their phones while leaving their own lives to a machine taking them down the highway at 60MPH. That's without even getting into how these same people endanger other people's lives with such behavior.

Maybe for some but only for some. After all, doesn't everyone already know how bad drunk driving is? Yet people still do it all the time.

 

[3ogdy]

Maybe for some but only for some. After all, doesn't everyone already know how bad drunk driving is? Yet people still do it all the time.

Yes, it's the same thing. As long as nobody else has to suffer because of them, it's all good.

 

[Ravey]

Except I can't count the number of times I've been next do a driver who was looking down at a phone and when I honked they weren't even phased nor did they look up.

Well if you are ever in your car with a passenger, ask them to take a picture of the driver, then take down their plate number and report them.