[falcolas]

> To be clear the driver is absolutely partially at fault

I'm... not so certain. Why? The autopilot had likely exhibited proper behavior every time that the vehicle had passed that particular section of road prior, and if the driver was paying full attention to the behavior of the vehicle, he would only notice the problem around the 5 second mark.

Five seconds, if you have no reason to be concerned about the vehicle's behavior, is not much time - especially if you consider that alert drivers are recommended to give themselves a minimum of 4 seconds of reaction time (i.e. follow a vehicle by at least 4 seconds).

[ericpauley]

My vehicle (a Honda civic) exhibits this exact same functionality and behavior. (lane keeping, ACC, emergency braking for cars) They make it very clear the limitations of these systems. I'd say that in the 5 months I've owned it it's had this exact behavior (veering off exit ramps) 10 times. A simple jerk of the wheel puts it back on track, it's such a natural motion if you're paying even the slightest bit of attention. That being said Tesla fails to make their drivers aware of the limitations of autopilot, so I agree that this may not be in the driver.

[freerobby]

Tesla reminds you to pay attention and keep your hands on the wheel every time you engage Autopilot. It's one of very few legal disclaimers they show you all the time on the screen, and don't give you any way of turning it off.

[jonhendry18]

And we all know how assiduously people pay attention to messages that flash up on screen.

[freerobby]

How about audible nags? How about flashing white lights on the display? How about gradually slowing the car down until you give tactical feedback proving you are in control? Tesla does a lot of things to coerce drivers to pay attention. If you check out TMC, you'll see lots of people complaining about how paternalistic and "naggy" the system is, even for those who use it properly.

I am continually surprised by how little emphasis there is on personal responsibility when this community discusses an L2 system such as Autopilot. According to both the law and the operating manual, the driver is in control at all times. Tesla warns you of this every time you turn it on. Yes, there are enough bad drivers out there that Tesla is wise to implement habit-forming nags; but drivers also need to take responsibility for how they use (and abuse) these systems. Nobody would pass the buck to cruise control for a driver who set it to 65 and then plowed into something in a moment of distraction. All due respect to the victim here -- and I feel absolutely terrible for him and his family -- but if you are paying attention and looking at the road ahead of you, there is no situation where you accelerate for three full seconds into a concrete barrier at 70MPH -- not with Autopilot, and not without it.

[dralley]

If I recall correctly (and I might be wrong), didn't the driver in question actually report prior to the accident that autopilot had anomalous behavior on this section of road?

[freerobby]

> I'm... not so certain. Why?

In this specific case, because if a driver is watching the road in front of them, four seconds is an awful lot of time to watch yourself head toward and then accelerate into a cement barrier, all without touching the brakes. It's fine to want Autopilot to be better, but as a matter of law, it is the driver's responsibility to slam on the brakes in that situation, and move into a legal lane.

More broadly, it's because the contract of an L2 system is that a human is in control at all times. L2 systems are assistive and not autonomous. They will never disobey a driver's presets, nor override a driver's real-time inputs, even if the car thinks it is safe(r) to do so. This is a major design principle behind every L2 system, and the reason why there are no scenarios where an L2 system is considered at fault by law.

Now obviously, if there were a bug that caused an L2 system to override a user's input -- say disregarding someone hitting the brakes, or overpowering the steering wheel, that'd be a systemic failure and grounds for a recall. But we haven't seen any cases of that, and there are hardware precautions (e.g. limited torque in the Autosteer servo) to minimize that possibility.

[jonhendry18]

"The autopilot had likely exhibited proper behavior every time that the vehicle had passed that particular section of road prior"

The driver had actually reported to Tesla problems about that specific section of road.