Pixabay / Free-Photos
I put a lot of faith in experts. Just like the vast majority of the global population, I don’t have the time, energy, resources, or expertise to exhaustively vet every single decision or purchase I make in life. I say this because for some reason I’ve never been able to get comfortable with the idea of autopilot in a car.
The idea of flying down a crowded road and trusting the car to detect traffic/obstructions and prevent an accident just doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll always trust myself on the road over a car’s computer autopilot and for that reason, I’ll always make the decision to drive instead of ever letting autopilot take over. I just cannot give in to the idea of autopilot being safe, especially not when I see clips like this.
Sure, this is a statistical anomaly. As I type this out, autopilot is functioning perfectly well in thousands of Teslas across the planet. But what about this one instance where it didn’t work? What about this car flying full-speed into an overturned truck on the highway because the autopilot malfunctioned? How am I ever supposed to get comfortable with this futuristic technology that’s supposed to keep me alive when I know there’s even the slightest chance of failure (and here failure = serious injury).
According to Jalopnik, this took place on Taiwan’s National Highway 1. Here you see a Tesla Model 3 crash into an overturned truck and the footage is from multiple angles. This is unsettling to say the least. Here are the multiple clips via Twitter and YouTube:
and
https://twitter.com/jsin86524368/status/1267304975069261824
and
https://twitter.com/jsin86524368/status/1267305509297758209
The Tesla Autopilot System is contingent upon the understanding that the car is not 100% capable of autonomous driving. The driver is supposed to always be aware of the road and responsible for taking over in an emergency. I get that. But I also recognize, at least in my case, the chance of this creating a slippery slope of complacency. You come to trust the car’s autopilot over time and reach a point where you don’t feel as if you need to be 100% vigilant. This is human nature. And when that happens the result is something like the accident above.
The article on Jalopnik uses a translated report from one of the Taiwanese outlets which suggest the driver had Autopilot engaged. They reached out to Tesla for a comment but haven’t heard back yet.