Tesla driver operating car on autopilot in deadly crash ordered to stand trial
Los Angeles driver to be tried on two counts of vehicular manslaughter
Kevin George Aziz Riad, 27, will be tried on two counts of vehicular manslaughter, Fox 11 LA reports.
Police reportedly said his Tesla Model S took a freeway exit and ran a red light before plowing into a Honda Civic Dec. 29, 2019.
The crash killed Gilberto Alcazar Lopez, 40, and Maria Guadalupe Nieves-Lopez, 39, who were on a first date the night of the accident.
The car’s Autosteer and traffic aware cruise control were activated at the time of the crash, according to prosecutors.
A Tesla engineer also testified that sensors indicated Riad had a hand on the steering wheel.
Crash data reportedly showed that no brakes were applied in the six minutes leading up to the accident.
Tesla officials have said that Autosteer and the more sophisticated “full self-driving” function cannot entirely drive the vehicle, and drivers must monitor and respond to needs based on traffic conditions.
Let me see if I understand the situation.
Tesla sells a car with a “full self-driving” mode.
Tesla says that actually full self-driving isn’t actually fully self-driving and the driver still have to drive the car because the full self-driving mode can malfunction and cause an accident.
If the driver doesn’t understand that full self-driving isn’t actually fully self-driving and causes and accident, the driver who was trusting the full self-driving mode is legally liable.
So why buy a self-driving car?
It only encourages you to not pay attention but requires you to pay attention while making you legally liable for its malfunctions.
This seems like more of a risk than not having it at all.
If people can’t trust their self-driving system and will go to jail if their self-driving system makes a mistake, self-driving is dead.
Like this:
Like Loading...