[RahulNagaraj]

According to media reports, Police near Bamberg, Germany, spotted a Tesla driving on the A70 Autobahn with the driver asleep behind the wheel.

The car is said to have been doing a steady 110 km/h on the highway for about 15 mins before the driver woke up and pulled over. Reports state that the driver had reclined the seats, had his eyes close and hands off the steering wheel and did not wake up for 15 minutes, even after numerous attempts by the police using horns & other signals.



During the driver's checkup, reports stated that he displayed signs of "drug-typical abnormalities", making it plausible that the medication could have put the driver to sleep. However, this doesn't account for the reclined seat and the steering wheel weight found in the footwell of the car - a device which fools the autopilot tech into assuming the driver's hand is on the steering wheel.

The driver ended up losing his license until the investigation against him is concluded for the criminal offence of endangering road traffic. The incident, though, further fuels ongoing arguments for and against the safety of the Autopilot technology.

Source: Teslarati

Link to Team-BHP news

[NJ_9]

Sometimes you just don't know what to say! Having driven a lot on Autobahn, I understand that a Autopilot can manage on its own on those well marked highways, still very very dangerous. His license will be terminated or suspended for at least 7 years based on the investigation.

[theMAG]

To policy makers, this type of incident raises another question - how does law enforcement take control of a car being driven on autopilot with the driver asleep at the wheel, while pulling it over to a safe stop ?

I would not be surprised if this likely law enforcement mandate is currently one of the top considerations automakers are working on.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by theMAG

To policy makers, this type of incident raises another question - how does law enforcement take control of a car being driven on autopilot with the driver asleep at the wheel, while pulling it over to a safe stop ?

I would not be surprised if this likely law enforcement mandate is currently one of the top considerations automakers are working on.

The waymo project also have or has suffered similar problems where the recovery teams could not get control of the car. It simply escaped. I guess the technology is not mature enough to determine that law enforcement is flagging it down and it should pull over safely.

[Gummybear]

Product designers can brainstorm as much as they can, to make their product fail safe, but in real world, it always fall short.

Probably, self drive cars need more than steering wheel weight to assess driver's alertness.

[fhdowntheline]

Interesting, that some EU carriers want to have single pilot commercial airline operations on the other hand. Its just ridiculous that we are making automation such a divine entity.

[extreme_torque]

Strange. Could they not have overtaken the Tesla and then started slowing down in the front to an eventual stop and Tesla would have stopped too.

[supermax]

Originally Posted by Gummybear

Product designers can brainstorm as much as they can, to make their product fail safe, but in real world, it always fall short.

Probably, self drive cars need more than steering wheel weight to assess driver's alertness.

The technology is already there. Almost all cars these days have tiredness sensors and facial recognition, but this isn't being utilized by Tesla , to bring the car to a stop on the emergency lane, when a driver misuses the full self drive.

This also shows that in its current state, it's totally useless even if the driver has sustained a medical emergency, or even death, while continuing to have his hands on the wheel, or slumped into the wheel. This is just laziness, incompetence, or hubris, or more likely all of the above, by Tesla.

Another totally unacceptable thing is the total lack of recognition or action to flashing lights. The full self drive/autopilot should at least switch off when it sees flashing lights, and of course a check to ensure that the driver is alert and capable of reassuming control when it hands over control to him/her.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Strange. Could they not have overtaken the Tesla and then started slowing down in the front to an eventual stop and Tesla would have stopped too.

It would have simply switched lanes. The only thing that would have worked is a box maneuver, with multiple cars being used in synchronized action, including behind it to stop it from just slowing down or switching lanes. That was probably their next move.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by supermax

It would have simply switched lanes. The only thing that would have worked is a box maneuver, with multiple cars being used in synchronized action, including behind it to stop it from just slowing down or switching lanes. That was probably their next move.

Not if there was another police car in the other lane at the same speed as the other police car which Tesla would have been following. In anycase full self driving autopilot beta is not available in Europe yet so there is no question of the car changing lanes by itself.

[anjan_c2007]

The driver should thank the German Polizei who have saved him. His licence is gone for the better and in the best interest of fellow traffic users due to the potential, lethal driver + drug induced sleep combination.

And autopilot technology with just a handful of checks to test whether the driver is alert, has multiple drawbacks. Morons with autopilots will kill others and also in many cases themselves die.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Strange. Could they not have overtaken the Tesla and then started slowing down in the front to an eventual stop and Tesla would have stopped too.

Well then you have a car stopped in the middle of the autobahn where it is possible to get rear ended at triple digit speeds.

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Well then you have a car stopped in the middle of the autobahn where it is possible to get rear ended at triple digit speeds.

They could have another police car behind the Tesla to create a buffer. It is very common for highway patrol to slow down traffic and create a buffer zone to pickup debris, or clear a car that has broken down.

[mobike008]

Not sure if I should praise his guts or stupidity to pull a gimmick like this one. I think the authorities have taken the right action by suspending his license.

Technology gives people no right to put other people's life in danger as technology is known to go wrong many times.

As a Tesla owner, I would never dare to keep my hands off the wheel for over a few minutes, let alone falling asleep at wheel. When you are traveling at 70-80mph and on autopilot there is a constant fear of anything going wrong.

Due to several accidents of stupid people doing such things, Tesla in recent software update has made "holding" the steering wheel mandatory after a few minutes (atleast a touch to wheel is required so Tesla knows you are awake and paying attention) when engaged in Autopilot.

If you fail to do so, "auto-steer" function gets disabled for remainder of the trip.

They should also ban products that allow Tesla owners to by-pass this function which is now becoming rampant here in US.

It reminds me of a similar incident here in US a while ago.

https://youtu.be/PDNGATpyr9k

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by theMAG

how does law enforcement take control of a car being driven on autopilot with the driver asleep at the wheel, while pulling it over to a safe stop ?

Based on the videos I have seen, they use different means to stop such vehicles.

https://youtu.be/_mytpTEbL0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MMNJ-c_VC0

[aashishnb]

I think a lot of these driver aids lead to less & less involvement of the driver, leading to fatigue/boredom etc. creeping in leading to sleepiness.

Not having a lot of traffic also helps.

Long time ago, a taxi driver while driving us on a newly built golden quadrilateral highway section remarked - look at the road ahead, no turn, no soul, no vehicle for kms at end. Chances of falling asleep is very high!!