New Tesla crash while on AutoPilot suggests 3rd party oversight needed

AutoPilot.

A new Tesla crash with AutoPilot engaged has headlines screaming coast to coast and perhaps further. Video shows the vehicle racing down a side street and slamming into a brick home. Sadly, a resident in the home was killed.

Data is fed to Tesla in real time and the company made a rare acknowledgement that full self driving (FSD) was active but then immediately blamed the driver for overriding the system. The data also shows that the accelerator remained depressed after the crash. The driver, who was seriously hurt but survived, said only that AutoPilot was engaged.

So, as in all these cases, we’re stuck in he said, she said. If the data is to be believed — and it is the most reliable information here — something depressed the accelerator. But was it, in fact, the driver?

A Toyota history

Many of you might recall a lengthy and costly recall of Toyota and Lexus models for unintended acceleration and I can say with confidence as a Lexus employee at the time that there was a physical cause. Floor mats were being carelessly thrown into the driver’s footwell and covering accelerator pedals that then would not release.

The recall included more, but primarily the company remade millions of floor mats that included a cut out for the accelerator and did not debate responsibility.

NHTSA etc.

As expected, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun a special crash investigation in order to collect the car’s event data recorder and onboard logs for review.

The Sheriff’s Office in the Texas county where the crash occurred is also conducting its own investigation in order to determine if charges against the driver are warranted. And a lawsuit against both Tesla and the driver is already in the works.

The third party

But it occurs to us that a disconnected third — or fourth — party should be involved here. It’s clearly personal to the driver, to the injured family and to Tesla itself. The CEO Elon Musk has strong ties to the government, which could create trust issues with NHTSA conclusions.

Perhaps an insurance company could be employed to look at the data. Their own investigators have experience with crash analysis and so long as the company chosen does not insure any of the parties involved.

Unlike the behavior of the Toyota Motor Corp. during its recall troubles, Tesla is frankly prone to digging in their heels and throwing blame rather than looking outside the box.

Is there nothing else that could depress the accelerator? Or mimic depressing the accelerator?

Will anyone look outside the data or will there be nothing but he said, she said and a whole lot of lawyers?

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