Tag Archives: self-driving cars

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk oversaw the creation of a 2016 video that exaggerated the abilities of Tesla Inc.’s driver-assistance system Autopilot, even dictating the opening text that claimed the company’s car drove itself, according to internal emails viewed by Bloomberg. Musk wrote to Tesla’s Autopilot team after 2 a.m. California time in October 2016 to emphasize the importance of …

Reuters reports: A 2016 video that Tesla used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light that the system did not have, according to testimony by a senior engineer. The video, which remains archived on Tesla’s website, was released in October 2016 and promoted on Twitter …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: A Tesla with Full Self-Driving software was reportedly responsible for causing an eight-car crash on the Bay Bridge on Thanksgiving that injured 18 people after the car abruptly stopped. But, starting next year, Tesla will effectively be banned from advertising its vehicles as Full Self-Driving under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Senate …

ABC News reports: A driver told authorities that their Tesla’s “full-self-driving” software braked unexpectedly and triggered an eight-car pileup in the San Francisco Bay Area last month that led to nine people being treated for minor injuries including one juvenile who was hospitalized, according to a California Highway Patrol traffic crash report. CNN Business obtained the report detailing the crash …

USA Today reports: Drivers are suing electric car manufacturer Tesla, accusing the company of deceiving consumers about the abilities of its autopilot system, which is sold for thousands of dollars as an add-on to its cars. The class-action lawsuit filed this week in a California court by Tesla customer Briggs Matsko, who said he paid $5,000 for the autopilot upgrade …

The Los Angeles Times reports: The California Department of Motor Vehicles has accused Tesla of false advertising in its promotion of the company’s signature Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies. The agency alleges the electric carmaker misled customers with advertising language on its website describing Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies as more capable than they actually are. The company “made or …

The New York Times reports: Over the course of 10 months, nearly 400 car crashes in the United States involved advanced driver-assistance technologies, the federal government’s top auto-safety regulator disclosed Wednesday, in its first-ever release of large-scale data about these burgeoning systems. In 392 incidents cataloged by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from July 1 of last year through …

Mediaite reports: Recently released dashcam footage captured the moment a Tesla being driven on auto-pilot crashed into a parked patrol car, hitting an officer and sending a second vehicle into a ditch. The incident, which occurred in North Carolina last August alongside U.S. Highway 64, was the result of an auto-pilot attempt gone wrong, as the Telsa owner was watching …

The Associated Press reports: Tesla is recalling nearly 54,000 cars and SUVs because their “Full Self-Driving” software lets them roll through stop signs without coming to a complete halt. Recall documents posted Tuesday by U.S. safety regulators say that Tesla will disable the feature with an over-the-internet software update. The “rolling stop” feature allows vehicles to go through intersections with …

Reuters reports: Tesla’s most important products this year and next will not be cars, CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday, but software that drives them autonomously and a humanoid robot the company expects to help out in the factory. “I would be shocked if we do not achieve full self-driving safer than human this year. I would be shocked,” Musk …

The Associated Press reports: California prosecutors have filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against the driver of a Tesla on Autopilot who ran a red light, slammed into another car and killed two people in 2019. The defendant appears to be the first person to be charged with a felony in the United States for a fatal crash involving a …

The New York Times reports: Not long after buying a Tesla Model 3 this summer, Vince Patton saw a YouTube clip highlighting a feature that took him by surprise: three video games that can be played on the large touch screen mounted in front of the dashboard — while driving down the road. “I thought surely that can’t be right,” …

The New York Times reports: Elon Musk built his electric car company, Tesla, around the promise that it represented the future of driving — a phrase emblazoned on the automaker’s website. Much of that promise was centered on Autopilot. Over and over, Mr. Musk declared that truly autonomous driving was nearly at hand — the day when a Tesla could …

The Washington Post reports: Tesla began letting owners request its “Full Self-Driving” software early Saturday, opening up for wide release its most advanced driver-assistance suite and signaling that thousands of drivers will soon be on the road with the unregulated and largely untested features. It’s the first time the company has let typical owners upgrade to the software it terms …

The Verge reports: Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Wall Street Journal that Tesla should address “basic safety issues” before the carmaker expands its so-called “full self-driving” (FSD) mode. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier this month that the company was aiming for a wider release of FSD by the end of September, making a …

Los Angeles’s ABC News affiliate reports: A DUI suspect was taken into custody after her Tesla vehicle that was reportedly on Autopilot stopped on a freeway overpass in the Glendale area Thursday night. According to a California Highway Patrol incident log, the vehicle hit a roadside wall shortly after 11 p.m. and kept traveling as the driver was reportedly unconscious. …

The Verge reports: Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have asked new Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to investigate Tesla’s marketing of its advanced driver assistance system, Autopilot. The Senators are particularly concerned with how Tesla has been charging customers thousands of dollars for what it refers to as “Full Self-Driving capability,” despite the fact that buying …

The Wall Street Journal reports: U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating Tesla Inc.’s advanced driver-assistance system known as Autopilot after a series of crashes involving emergency vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document made public Monday that it had identified 11 crashes since early 2018 in which a Tesla vehicle using the company’s driver-assistance system struck …

Milwaukee’s NBC News affiliate reports: The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office said it was dispatched to northbound I-94 near the Illinois/Wisconsin state line Sunday for a report of a Tesla driver who appeared to be asleep at the wheel. The deputy tried to initiate a traffic stop and activated the lights and sirens in his car. The driver didn’t pull over …

Car & Driver reports: We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep saying it for a while: there are no full self-driving cars available for sale today. Completely autonomous vehicles remain a technology from the future. Auto companies that try to promote their driver-assistance features as “full self driving” could run afoul of regulators. See also: Tesla. The California Department of …