More Tesla Autopilot crashes surface; NHTSA to investigate another
Green Car Reports.com by John Voelcker, July 7, 2016
With details about a fatal May 7 crash of a Tesla Model S operating on Autopilot continuing to garner news coverage, more crashes with Autopilot engaged appear to be surfacing.
Most notably, the NHTSA has said it will investigate a crash on Friday, July 1, in which a Tesla Model X ran off the road and rolled over.
The owner says it was operating on Autopilot, but Tesla Motors issued a statement yesterday saying its data showed no signs of that.
The emergence of more crashes, some of which had been discussed on Tesla owner forums, was reported yesterday by The Wall Street Journal.
From the Tesla Motors Club Forums:
Another Model X crash, driver says autopilot was engaged
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/another-model-x-crash-driver-says-autopilot-was-engaged.73065/
One such case involved a Model S owner whose Autopilot had driven the car along an Interstate highway for 17 minutes when he began to review some papers.
When he looked up, his car was heading straight for a truck parked in his lane. He swerved, but hit the truck. The car was totaled....snip
Read More: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104865_more-tesla-autopilot-crashes-surface-nhtsa-to-investigate-another
Related: UK Guardian: Elon Musk's self-driving evangelism masks risk of Tesla autopilot, experts say
Tesla’s ambitious futurism has earned it loyal fans – but after the death of a driver using autopilot, some say the company should be more explicit about limitations...snip
...But in January, just a few months after he chastised drivers for “some fairly crazy videos on YouTube” of hands-free hijinks, Musk told reporters that the Model S was “probably better than humans at this point in highway driving”. Before the updated autopilot was released, he said that the car was “almost able to go [between San Francisco and Seattle] without touching the controls at all”.
In April, he distracted fans and reporters from the news of a recall of 2,700 Model X SUVs with a joking tweet comparing autopilot to the video game Mario Kart.
Talulah Riley, Musk’s wife, shared and deleted an Instagram video of herself driving on the highway between Los Angeles and San Diego without holding the wheel...snip
MORE: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/02/elon-musk-self-driving-tesla-autopilot-joshua-brown-risks
Tesla's Model S Autopilot is AMAZING!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Tesla’s Autopilot not really an autopilot
This spring I road-tested a Tesla Model S P90D in Autopilot mode. The first thing to understand about Autopilot is that it’s not one.
Unlike airliner autopilot systems that allow pilots to set a course so they can work on other tasks, Tesla explicitly warns customers at its stores that its Autopilot is for “driver assistance only.” Drivers must pay attention.
After all, at 30,000 feet there are no semis. No trees. No stoplights. On solid ground, Tesla Autopilot demands the pilot be engaged.
In my half-hour drive on Telegraph and the streets of Oakland County, my hands were never far from the steering wheel. Were they not, I tempted any number of risks — from veering off the road to running through red lights.
Sadly, since Autopilot was introduced last fall, some drivers haven’t taken these warnings to heart. In the past week, we’ve learned of a fatality alleged to be related to a Tesla Model S on Autopilot in Florida and a major accident involving a Tesla Model X on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Blame the drivers, sure, but the automotive press needs to be more cautious about over-hyping the potential of self-driving cars. Truly self-driving cars are years away and may never be truly autonomous. And the startup company, too, has over-hyped what is clearly a test-phase program in order to get a leg up in the dog-eat-dog luxury segment.
Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/henry-payne/2016/07/07/payne-teslas-autopilot-really-autopilot/86833620/
I'm in the Northeast and driving in the winter is often scary, with the roads being slippery and not being able to see. But on a post the other day I learned that a self driving car would be no help in a blizzard - since it depends on the lines in the road. So much for my hopes and dreams of a self driving car... 
Here's the post, learned quite a lot from it: 
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017390349
