Death by Autopilot

It seems like car and tech companies alike are racing to create the first driverless car. Tesla is leading the race with its autopilot system. People love its Model S and they have also pre-ordered the next batch of Tesla Models. A future of driverless cars seems more and more realistic as days go by but it begs the question whether these cars are 100% safe. We had the viral video of the man sleeping with autopilot on that made headlines and this week another autopilot story made headlines as well. The first Tesla autopilot crash was reported this week.

A driver was killed Wednesday while the semi autopilot was engaged. A tragic story that will probably make people think twice before considering the purchase of a driverless car. Tesla released a detailed report about the accident and all circumstances point to an orchestrated type accident. The Tesla S was traveling on a divided highway as a tractor trailer merged in front of it. The Tesla only has sensors that look downward which allowed the car to drive underneath the trailer. Sounds like a series of unfortunate events type situation to me.

This won’t stop the car giants from working and manufacturing their driverless cars but how reliable will these cars be? Unfortunately, this will be the first of many fatal accidents well hear about due to semi-autonomous cars. It is about trial and error like most inventions, as lucrative as artificial intelligence has become we still have a way to go. Tech companies will have to work hard to create a system that mimics the human mind and will prevent tragedies from happening.