Tesla’s Musk says software changes could improve Autopilot

Tesla wouldn’t comment Friday on Musk’s tweets or possible changes to Autopilot, which is being scrutinized by two US government agencies. Also, the Autopilot system is still under testing process, so the driver must enhance the terms and conditions of the use of this mechanism. He added that “manufacturers must educate consumers not only about their benefits but also their limitations”. The agency declined to comment, and a Tesla spokesperson said the company had “not received any communication from the SEC regarding this issue”.

“Onboard vehicle logs show Autopilot was turned off in Pennsylvania crash”.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the wreck and the functioning of the Autopilot system. The Pennsylvania State Police said on Tuesday that the Tesla driver, Albert Scaglione of Farmington Hills, Mich., in suburban Detroit, had been charged with careless driving.

The consumer affairs nonprofit said the Autopilot software doesn’t do enough to confirm the driver is keeping his or her hands on the wheel, and it said the Autopilot name “promotes a potentially unsafe assumption that the Model S is capable of driving on its own”. The company seems to have no plans of disabling the system or meeting any of Consumer Reports’ requests, instead saying earlier in the week that will increase its efforts to make sure consumers are educated on how Autopilot actually works. This means that when autonomous driving functions are activated on a auto, it is nearly impossible for the driver to remain completely focused, particularly as they’re responsibility for actually driving has been taken away by technology.

The technology is under intense scrutiny following the May 7 death of a driver who was using the Autopilot feature on his Tesla Model S sedan when it crashed into a tractor-trailer in Florida.

“You take all of these factors and you pull them together, and you can understand why many people could conclude that as tragic as this accident is, it’s not material to Tesla’s future as a company or to its stock price”, Grundfest said.

“Tesla is constantly introducing enhancements, proven over millions of miles of internal testing, to ensure that drivers supported by Autopilot remain safer than those operating without assistance”. But today, we’re deeply concerned that consumers are being sold a pile of promises about unproven technology. It says Tesla drivers are warned to stay alert and keep their hands on the steering wheel because the technology does not provide fully autonomous driving. “While we appreciate well-meaning advice from any individual or group, we make our decisions on the basis of real-world data, not speculation by media”.

Just after the crash was made public June 30, Musk gave an indication in a tweet that the radar was discounted in the Florida crash. In the time since, we’ve seen that the system isn’t ideal.

Tesla said on Tuesday its autosteer software, the steering function in Autopilot, was enabled during a Sunday crash involving a Model X in Montana.