Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / Federal regulator finds Tesla Autopilot has ‘critical safety gap’ linked to hundreds of collisions

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Federal regulator finds Tesla Autopilot has ‘critical safety gap’ linked to hundreds of collisions · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast.
• 0:03
  This is a show where we discuss. The critical.
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  Over this. Google pulled the Google Podcast
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  app off of. Android and I want to let you
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  know where to continue finding the show.
• 0:41
  Over at YouTube Music Search for Elon Musk podcast, a recent
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  federal investigation revealed that Tesla's Autopilot and full
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  self driving features have been linked to numerous crashes,
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  including hundreds of injuries and dozens of fatalities.
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  This investigation, which was spurred by a tragic incident
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  involving a North Carolina student and a Tesla Model Y,
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  shows that there are serious concerns about the safety and
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  effectiveness of these technologies.
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  In March of 2023, a high speed collision occurred when a Tesla
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  Model 3 operating on Autopilot struck a 17 year old student as
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  he exited a school bus. This incident prompted the
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  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or the NHTSA, to
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  scrutinize similar accidents involving Tesla's automated
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  driving services. Now the NHTS, as extensive
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  review, covered 956 incidents dating from January 2018 through
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  August of 2023. They discovered a troubling
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  pattern where Tesla's technology failed to ensure drivers
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  remained engaged, resulting in 29 deaths and numerous injuries
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  across various scenarios. The findings indicate the
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  drivers often disengage from the driving process while using
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  Autopilot or full self driving. Despite Tesla's guidance on
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  maintaining hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, many
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  drivers became complacent, leading to catastrophic outcomes
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  now, particularly concerning where the crashes involving
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  stationary emergency vehicles. These incidents typically
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  occurred at night and involved Autopilot ignoring critical
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  scene control measures like warning lights and cones,
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  highlighting a grave oversight in Tesla system design.
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  Now the NHTSA criticized Tesla for not designing a system to
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  keep drivers adequately engaged. This flaw appears to have
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  allowed drivers to over rely on Autopilot, thus not reacting
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  quickly enough to avoid collisions as evidenced in 59
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  detailed crash investigations. Now analysis of these incidents
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  show that often drivers had significant warning times up to
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  10 seconds before impact. They were not utilized
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  effectively to prevent crashes, revealing a critical safety gap
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  in Tesla's automation technology.
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  And the agency also noted that Tesla's approach to automation
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  different significantly from other manufacturers.
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  While others promote driver assistance as an aid, Tesla's
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  branding suggest higher level of autonomy, which may mislead
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  users about the capabilities and safe use of Autopilot and full
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  self driving. Now, furthermore, the NHTSA has
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  raised concerns about Tesla's failure to collect comprehensive
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  telemetry data, suggesting that the true scale of issues related
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  to Autopilot and full self driving could also be under
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  reported. And in response to these
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  findings, Tesla implemented A voluntary recall issuing a
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  software update intended to enhance driver monitoring and
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  engagement alerts. However, ongoing reports of
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  crashes have led to skepticism about the effectiveness of these
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  updates and HTS as ongoing investigations and the recent
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  findings under score the agency's concerns about the
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  safety of Tesla's automated driving features.
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  This scrutiny comes amidst Tesla's ambitious plans to
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  advance towards full autonomous vehicles, which has been
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  something that they've been promising for a very long time
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  and haven't delivered on. And despite the controversies,
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  Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to assert the safety and
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  superiority of Tesla's technology over traditional
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  driving, claiming that autonomy could significantly reduce
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  traffic accidents. Musk's confidence in Tesla's
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  autonomous future was reiterated during a recent earnings call.
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  Ray stated that achieving full autonomy would be pivotal for
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  the company's success. He encouraged investors to trust
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  in Tesla's capability to solve autonomy, emphasizing the
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  potential to transform all transportation.
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  However, critics and safety experts argue that Tesla's
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  promotional strategies and public statements often
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  overstate the capabilities of the driving systems.
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  This practice, known as Auto No Washing, has been highlighted as
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  potentially misleading consumers about the true functionality and
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  safety of Autopilot and Full Self driving.
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  Recent legislative attention from Senator Edward J Markey and
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  Richard Blumenthal has further pressured regulatory bodies to
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  enforce stricter controls on where and how Tesla's Autopilot
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  feature should be used any to mitigate further risks to public
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  safety. And the ongoing debate about
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  Tesla's technology and its regulatory scrutiny show that
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  there's more challenges in the automotive industry's shift
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  towards autonomous driving. It's kind of a long way away if
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  you think about it. It has been a development for
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  around 10 plus years. Autonomy in vehicles at scale is
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  a thing that hasn't happened yet, and Tesla's at the
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  forefront of it, but they're still pretty far away, and as
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  companies like Tesla push the boundaries of this tech, the
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  safety during these innovations remains critical.
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  The NHTSA is comprehensive review and its actions indicate
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  A cautious approach towards autonomous driving technology.
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  Now. Ensuring that these systems do
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  not compromise safety while advancing innovation is
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  essential for their acceptance and success in the United States
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  and all over the world. Now, while Tesla's Autopilot and
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  full selfdriving technologies represent significant
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  advancements in auto tech, the current implementation and
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  oversight raise important safety concerns.
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  It's crucial for Tesla to address these issues as they
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  continue to develop and promote autonomy in all of their
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  vehicles. Hey, thank you so much for
• 6:32
  listening today. I really do appreciate your
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  support. If you could take a second and
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  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode and each episode
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  And please, if you want to support the show even more, go
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  to patreon.com/stage Zero and please take care of yourselves
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  and each other and I'll see you tomorrow.