WASHINGTON —The U. S.
Thursday announced the first death in an accident involving a car.
Driving Mode, 40-year-
The old boss of a tech company nicknamed his car "Tessy" and praised its sophisticated "self-driving" system a month ago because it prevented the interstate.
The government says it is investigating the design and performance of the system on the Tesla Model S sedan. Joshua D.
In May 7, Brown, from Canton, Ohio, died in an accident in Weston, Florida, when his car camera could not tell the white part of the steering tractor --
According to government records obtained on Thursday, the trailer from the bright sky did not automatically start the brakes.
Truck driver, owner of Okemah Express LLC, Frank Baressi, 62, said Tesla drivers were driving so fast "playing Harry Potter on TV screens" when they crashed, to the point that "He walked so fast in my trailer that I didn't see him
Baressi said in an interview with The Associated Press at his home in Palm Harbor, Florida: "When he died, it was still playing and broke a pole on the road . ".
He admitted that he could not see the film, but only listened to it once.
Tesla Motors
Indicates that the video cannot be viewed on the Model S touch screen.
The film was not mentioned in the initial police report.
Brown's obituary says he's been a member of the Navy SEAL team for 11 years and founder of Nexu innovation.
Work on wireless Internet and camera systems.
In Washington, the Pentagon confirmed Brown's partnership with the seals and said he left office in 2008.
Brown, an enthusiastic booster for his 2015 Tesla Model S, praised his advanced self-driving system in April for avoiding a crash when a commercial truck turned to his driveway on the interstate.
He posted a video of the incident online.
"Hand over the best car I have and make the most of it," Brown wrote . ".
Tesla did not disclose Brown's identity, but said in a statement that he was "a friend of Tesla and the wider range of electric vehicles "(
Electric vehicles)
The community, a man who has devoted his life to innovation and technology commitments, firmly believes in Tesla's mission.
It also highlights the uncertainty of the new system and points out that the driver has to enable it manually: "The autopilot has been improving, but this is not perfect and still requires the driver to be vigilant.
"A man at Brown's parents' home who did not recognize himself replied that he did not comment.
Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted "our condolences for the tragic loss" late Thursday ".
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said preliminary reports showed that the accident occurred when Baressi's rig turned left at the intersection of a split Road without traffic lights in front of Brown's Tesla.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol report, Brown died on May 7 at the scene of a crash in Weston, Florida.
The city is located southwest of Gainesville.
When the firemen arrived, the wreckage of Tesla
The roof was completely scraped off.
Danny Wallace, assistant director of the William Ston Fire Department, told The Associated Press that I had rested in a nearby yard hundreds of feet from the crash site.
The driver was declared dead, in the local firefighters term "signal 7," and they respectfully covered the wreckage, waiting for the arrival of the accident investigators.
The company said it was the first known death in more than 0. 13 billion miles of self-driving operations.
The company said the NHTSA investigation was a preliminary investigation to determine whether the system worked as expected.
Tesla said that before using the self-driving system, the driver must admit that the system is an "auxiliary function" that requires the driver to always put both hands on the steering wheel.
The statement stated that drivers were told that they needed to "maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle" when using the system and that they must be ready to take over at any time.
The autopilot checks frequently to ensure that the driver's hand is on the steering wheel, and if it is not detected, it gives a visual and auditory alert and before the driver responds, it will gradually slow down the car statement.
The self-driving mode allows the Model S sedan and the Model x suv to turn, change lanes and accelerate or slow down in the lane depending on the speed set by the surrounding traffic or driver.
It can brake automatically and slow down the speed of the vehicle.
It can also scan parking spaces and parallel parks on the commandTesla, acknowledging that the self-driving feature is not perfect, but said in a statement that it has been getting better and better.
"When used with driver supervision, the data clearly indicates that the autopilot reduces the workload of the driver and significantly improves the safety statistically," the company said . ".
The NHTSA defect office is working on the investigation.
NHTSA said in a statement that the beginning of the preliminary assessment should not be interpreted as a finding that the government considers the Model S defective.
Tesla's death comes as NHTSA is taking steps to pave the way for itself
Driving a car, looking forward to the sea
Tesla's leading driving style has changed. Self-
People think driving cars is a good thing for safety because they can eliminate human error.
About the accident was caused by human error.
Musk has been bullish on the autopilot, although Tesla warns the owner that the feature is not suitable for all situations and is not mature enough for the driver to check.
This spring, Musk said the function reduced the probability of accidents by 50 without detailed calculations.
In January, he said self-driving was "probably better than people now ".
"One of Tesla's advantages over its competitors is its thousands of cars
The World performance information is returned to the company and can then be fined-
Adjust the Autopilot software.
It is not the first time that the automatic braking system has failed, and several have been recalled to solve the problem.
For example, Toyota had to recall 31,000 vehicles in November.
Large Lexus and Toyota because the automatic braking system radar mistaken the steel joint or steel plate on the road ahead for an object and brake.
Last fall, Ford recalled 37,000 F-
150 pickup trucks because they brake without any hindrance.
The company said the radar could become chaotic when passing through a large reflective truck.
Mike Harley, an analyst at Kelly's Blue Book, said the technology relies on multiple cameras, radar, lasers and computers to sense objects and determine if they prevent cars from driving.
Systems such as Tesla, which rely heavily on cameras, "are not complicated enough to overcome blindness caused by bright or low-contrast light," he said ".
Harley says death is unfortunate, but he says more deaths are expected as autonomous technology improves.
Tesla Motor Co. , Ltd. fell $6. 77, or 3.
The latter is 2%
Trading within hours of the News of the crash.
The stock rose 1 percentage point to $212 on trading day. 28.
Karl brawer, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said the accident was a huge blow to Tesla's reputation.
"They have been promoting their safety and they have been promoting their advanced technology," he said . ".
"In the face of these two situations, the situation is very serious.
Tesla will have to fix the damage in two ways, Brewer said.
First of all, the company needs to make sure that the customer understands that autonomous driving is to help the driver, not to take over the driver completely.
Second, the company should update the software of the car so that if the autopilot detects that the driver's hand is not on the steering wheel for a certain period of time, it will shut down. Mercedes-
Mercedes-Benz's driver assistance system is one of the systems that requires the driver's hand to be placed on the wheel.