Investigators of last week’s fatal crash involving a Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) vehicle have said they are ‘unhappy’ that the car-maker has released details of the incident to the public.
In a blog post last Friday, electric car-maker Tesla said that they have recovered the logs from the in-car computer of the Model X vehicle involved. Tesla revealed that its self-driving Autopilot mode was active at the time of the crash, confirming fears that the company may be at fault. However, the company also said that the driver had “received several visual and one audible hands-on warning[s] prior to the crash, as well as about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view” of the concrete barrier with which the vehicle collided. The system is designed to warn drivers when it is time for them to take control of the car away from the computer. Despite this, the logs show that no action was taken by driver Wei Huang, who died in hospital after the crash.
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In addition, Tesla noted that the severity of the crash was due to the crash attenuator — the safety barrier on the highway — which been crushed in a prior crash and not replaced. This meant that it did not successfully absorb the impact as it was designed to do. ‘We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash,’ the company said.
However, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are concerned about the release of Tesla’s investigatory findings, which have been released prior to their own. In the past, “Tesla has been extremely cooperative on assisting with the vehicle data,” NTSB spokesman Chris O’Neil told the Washington Post. “However, the NTSB is unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla.” Mr. O’Neil noted that the NTSB’s update on the crash will likely be in its preliminary report, which is generally published within a few weeks of fieldwork completion.
Meanwhile, reports are surfacing of a YouTube video which appears to show a Tesla driver attempting to recreate the crash scene in his own Autopilot-driven vehicle. In the video, the car appears to veer off towards a lane-dividing barrier and begins to warn the driver to take action. The driver slams on the brakes, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.
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Despite the crash, Tesla continue to highlight the supposed safety of the Autopilot system, which they say has been found by the U.S. government to reduce crash rates by as much as 40%. ‘No one knows about the accidents that didn’t happen, only the ones that did. The consequences of the public not using Autopilot, because of an inaccurate belief that it is less safe, would be extremely severe,’ the company said, also noting that ‘none of this changes how devastating an event like this is or how much we feel for our customer’s family and friends.’
Tesla stocks are continuing their downward trend following the incident, as well as on the news that the company is behind its production target for the Model 3 vehicle. Prices are currently down -4.99% to $252.85 USD, bringing the company’s market cap to $42.7B.
Featured image: Tesla/USA Today
