Footage Shows Tesla in Eight-Car Pileup After Stopping for No Reason

Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

Anyone feeling overly assured about Tesla’s present driver-assist capabilities ought to most likely sit down and check out this footage of a Model S allegedly engaged in Full-Self Driving mode seemingly single-handedly sparking an eight-car pile-up on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge.

Multiple angles of the site visitors footage, obtained by The Intercept through a public file request, present the Tesla have interaction its left indicator and change lanes earlier than all of a sudden slamming on the brakes and coming to an entire cease. A quickly approaching car trailing the Tesla fails to brake in time and smashes into the Model S’s rear. A pileup ensues as fast-moving automobiles within the five-lane street swerve to keep away from the collision. Though the precise causes of the crash are nonetheless below investigation, the Tesla’s sudden stoppage eerily resembles an alarming variety of “phantom braking” complaints raised by different Tesla house owners, the place their automobiles unexpectedly have interaction their brakes.

Previous reports declare the wreckage left 9 folks injured, together with a two-year-old, and blocked site visitors for over an hour. The driver reportedly told police that Tesla’s Full-Self Driving mode was engaged on the time of the accident although the officer who wrote the crash report mentioned he was unable to confirm the claims. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into the crash. Making issues worse, the crash occurred simply hours after CEO Elon Musk despatched out an enthusiastic tweet alerting clients of FSD’s availability to anybody in North America. Musk known as the second a, “major milestone.”

The dramatic crash footage comes as Tesla finds itself knee-deep in federal investigations probing quite a few accidents attributed to the corporate’s driverless tech and alleged misstatement of the software program’s functionality spewed the corporate’s part-time CEO. On Monday, NHTSA appearing head Ann Carlson told Reuters the administration was working “really fast” and devoting important sources to wrap up its years-long investigation into Tesla’s driver help tech launched in 2021. Additionally, the NHTSA informed Gizmodo this week it’s trying into a latest tweet from Musk the place he responded to a consumer who mentioned he believed FSD customers with greater than 1,000 hours logged ought to be capable of run off an alert reminding them to maintain their fingers on the steering wheel. Musk replied, in sometimes cryptic vogue, “agreed, update coming in Jan.”

The latest Tesla pileup footage is dangerous information for anybody seeking to Tesla to reinvigorate a considerably stalling driverless tech business. Late final yr, Ford-backed Argo AI, one of the vital promising startups within the business, all of a sudden shut down operations citing a longer-than-expected street to profitability and scale. Driverless tech, usually rampant on the Consumer Electronics Show, was reportedly in brief provide this yr. All the whereas precise shopper confidence within the tech stays low. A majority of U.S. adults (63%) surveyed by Pew Research final yr mentioned they’d not need to trip in driverless automobiles whereas 44% mentioned they believed the tech’s widespread use could be, “bad for society.”


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https://gizmodo.com/footage-chp-tesla-self-driving-eight-car-pileup-stops-m-1849971303