Tesla Driver Using Autopilot Crashes Into Home, Killing a Woman

[CDONA]

I would estimate around 80 mph, full throttle, no brakes.

 

[Akira-R]

i’m so confused about tesla’s. have told the story before - was in the right hand lane of a dual left turn lane. when the light turned green, the dude acted like it was single turn lane, drifted over into my lane and almost put me in the sound wall (i laid on the horn, and he jerked his car back into his own lane). hell, the driver assist tech in our sprinter would have never let that happen (potential impact detection, steering and brakes take over).

To be honest, this happens to me all the time, and it's any car. People don't fucking pay attn when there are multiple turn lanes, or just don't care.

 

[Reli]

If you consider the likely psychology of the average Tesla owner, it makes sense that many are close relatives to Prius drivers. If you actually care about cars aesthetically, you would never buy a Tesla. I drove some plaid edition whatever model S thing, and driving experience is super unpleasant. Heavy heavy understeer that fights you every time you want to make a turn. And we've all seen the poor fit and finish and totally blah design. Everything has to be done through touch screens which require you to take your eyes off the driving experience. The entire car experience is built for people that want to use a computer that happens to have wheels and will take you places while you use it.

Not to mention the so-so ride quality, in what is billed as a luxury car. The Model 3 is even worse in that regard.

 

[Das MotorRad]

so...the pedal was at 100% and FSD was engaged, tesla admits

i think fsd did something wrong and the dude was not ready to take over and his feet were not on the pedals. he went to slam on the brakes but hit the gas pedal instead.

*tinfoil hat on* how do we know whether the physical gas pedal was at 100% or if the computer received a 100% signal?

Tesla admits FSD was on in fatal Texas crash, blames driver for 'overriding' it

Tesla now admits FSD was engaged when a Model 3 killed a 76-year-old in Katy, Texas, but blames the driver for flooring the accelerator to 73 mph.

electrek.co

 

[Enchanter]

*tangent*
I wonder if 'one pedal driving' had anything to do with this. If a user rarely uses the brake pedal, what will their muscle memory have them do when they encounter an emergency situation? I have a car that has the feature, but refuse to use it for this exact reason.

 

[ctwo]

A PhD I spoke with recently shared that his biggest concern about AI is its potential to reduce our cognitive function—especially when it comes to basic thinking skills. His point was that over-reliance on AI can weaken our ability to perceive, process, and interpret information on our own.

He gave an interesting example. With his deep knowledge of complex electronics, he can walk up to a demo of new technology he’s never seen before and quickly break it down—describing what he observes and deducing how it likely works based on foundational principles.

Now compare that to someone without that background. The average person, who hasn’t been exposed to those core concepts, might look at the same setup and struggle to explain what they’re seeing—or even where to start.

The difference isn’t intelligence—it’s developed understanding. And that’s where his concern comes in: if we begin outsourcing too much thinking to AI, we risk losing the ability to build that foundational knowledge and reasoning in the first place.

 

[Das MotorRad]

A PhD I spoke with recently shared that his biggest concern about AI is its potential to reduce our cognitive function—especially when it comes to basic thinking skills. His point was that over-reliance on AI can weaken our ability to perceive, process, and interpret information on our own.

He gave an interesting example. With his deep knowledge of complex electronics, he can walk up to a demo of new technology he’s never seen before and quickly break it down—describing what he observes and deducing how it likely works based on foundational principles.

Now compare that to someone without that background. The average person, who hasn’t been exposed to those core concepts, might look at the same setup and struggle to explain what they’re seeing—or even where to start.

The difference isn’t intelligence—it’s developed understanding. And that’s where his concern comes in: if we begin outsourcing too much thinking to AI, we risk losing the ability to build that foundational knowledge and reasoning in the first place.

there is science to back this up as well

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task – MIT Media Lab

This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and …

www.media.mit.edu

Brain-only participants exhibited the strongest, most distributed networks; Search Engine users showed moderate engagement; and LLM users displayed the weakest connectivity.

While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning.

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task

www.brainonllm.com

 

[Ridley]

This thread reminds me of this

 

[ST Guy]

I’ve read that the driver had his foot on the accelerator pedal and it was pushed to the floor. And that the car hit the house at 70 mph. If true, the driver was totally incompetent.

 

[budman]

WTF is wrong with Tesla drivers?

In general, I think they have hit a new low as far as skill, awareness and concern for others on the road. It does not apply to all as all blankets statements do.

I mentioned this in another Tesla thread that a friend was a Tesla salesman and he had customers that literally could not drive buying the cars because they thought it could drive them around.

Fucking a lot of humans are stupid as F

 

[Holeshot]

The few times I tried out FSD, it felt kind of jittery and unreliable. Like it would work fine for 10 minutes as long as everyone else around us was perfectly well behaved but then something unexpected would happen, and instead of handling it gracefully, it would kind of freak out. My personal opinion is that I don't think Tesla FSD is capable of ever being reasonably safe around other human drivers, and part of that has to do with the fact that it doesn't have Lidar like Waymo does. So the FSD decision engine is functionally impaired compared to Waymo, similar to a drunk driver vs. a sober one.

Elon made the bet that if humans can drive safely with stereoscopic vision, then FSD should be able to, too - this was also a self-serving bet, because Lidar is expensive and ugly, and most consumers who are buying an already expensive car, would balk at the extra cost for Lidar. Unfortunately for him, it was also a wrong bet, and one that can't easily be recovered from. Tens of millions of drunk cars, all collecting data that will never have sufficient depth to enable a safe and complete FSD system.

Lidar isn't much better when fogged over with bugs/ material, etc. The Stelantis products are built this way and my Ram with "No touch Cruise control" has had issues with sudden braking on the freeway after changing lanes (mostly). I suspect an alignment issue as the cause. The GV80 has issues when the front sensor becomes dirty with bugs/ material, etc. and will disable the touches cruise control as well. This is not infrequent, especially in snow weather.

*tinfoil hat on* how do we know whether the physical gas pedal was at 100% or if the computer received a 100% signal?

Tesla admits FSD was on in fatal Texas crash, blames driver for 'overriding' it

Tesla now admits FSD was engaged when a Model 3 killed a 76-year-old in Katy, Texas, but blames the driver for flooring the accelerator to 73 mph.

electrek.co

Good find on the article. This comports with the experience(s) I've had, noted in my earlier post. I believe the vehicle was taken out of FSD by an action of the driver.

 

[budman]

A PhD I spoke with recently shared that his biggest concern about AI is its potential to reduce our cognitive function—especially when it comes to basic thinking skills. His point was that over-reliance on AI can weaken our ability to perceive, process, and interpret information on our own.

He gave an interesting example. With his deep knowledge of complex electronics, he can walk up to a demo of new technology he’s never seen before and quickly break it down—describing what he observes and deducing how it likely works based on foundational principles.

Now compare that to someone without that background. The average person, who hasn’t been exposed to those core concepts, might look at the same setup and struggle to explain what they’re seeing—or even where to start.

The difference isn’t intelligence—it’s developed understanding. And that’s where his concern comes in: if we begin outsourcing too much thinking to AI, we risk losing the ability to build that foundational knowledge and reasoning in the first place.

Who knew this was telling the future.

 

[gixxerjeff]

Dunno.
Gotta defend the Tesla driver here....
Clearly that inconsiderate house just jumped into their parh.

 

[Melissa]

a reminder to not jump to conclusions!

 

[littlebeast]

Teslas' features just don't work well, I guess


there's nothing to be confused by-- you're probably operating under the assumption they are "safe" and "self-driving" cars... it seems you're affected by marketing claiming that to be the case.

but some of their drivers are really inept/beginner ones;
and others drivers use the Tesla's drivers' aid, which may be buggy and literally sometimes suddenly stops, creating an injury crash.

i’m not assuming they are safe, or self driving - but like i said, i did expect that their tech would be at least as minimally functional as the tech in our sprinter. i had to honk to warn the driver of a potential impact. that’s nuts for a vehicle that built its reputation on its tech.

To be honest, this happens to me all the time, and it's any car. People don't fucking pay attn when there are multiple turn lanes, or just don't care.

true, but that particular vehicle should have easily detected that a) it had left it’s lane of travel (drifting wide right in a left hand turn), and b) that it was about to impact a solid object (my car). all of that is super basic tech on new and newer vehicles. and most of them issue an audible warning, but don’t rely on the drivers - they brake and adjust the steering automatically - especially to avoid collisions. like i said, i’m confused by tesla’s - the reality doesn’t match the hype. other manufacturers can figure it out. why can’t they?

 

[Holeshot]

I don't believe there are vehicles braking + changing direction. Braking yes. Changing direction; not that I know of.