Eight-car Thanksgiving pileup blamed on Tesla “Full Self-Driving” software

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Dan Smith

Tesla's camera-only approach to driver assistance continues to cause problems.
Expanding / Tesla's camera-only approach to driver assistance continues to cause problems.
Orrich Lawson | Tesla

An eight-car crash on Thanksgiving (November 24) is now blamed on Tesla's "fully self-driving" (FSD) assistance system. The accident occurred on Interstate 80 in the Bay Area, California, leaving one person hospitalized and eight with minor injuries. According to a California Highway Patrol report on the incident, a Tesla Model S traveling at 55 miles per hour on Interstate 80 crossed multiple lanes and rapidly slowed to 20 miles per hour, causing another vehicle to crash, according to Reuters. It is said that a collision occurred as well as the car of Even at highway speeds, the slow-moving electric car was unavoidable. According to Reuters, the driver claimed the crash was caused by a controversial "fully automated" system, saying "it was malfunctioning, but police said he was not sure if the software was working or what he said was accurate." I couldn't tell if it was," he said. In fact, it seems the police may not be able to clean it up. CNN told his CHP spokesperson, "We cannot determine whether 'fully self-driving' will work and Tesla has that information."

As Tesla expands its FSD beta program, the system will become involved in more and more crashes, and in late 2021, the automaker will run firmware associated with so-called "phantom braking" events. I had to issue a recall for a car that has Activated the car's automatic emergency braking system. This is just one of a series of problems associated with Tesla's assistance system. According to Electrek, there have been at least 38 NHTSA investigations this summer. Anger has been directed at his FSD, and Tesla's stance on deploying the system on public roads has even led to a run for Senate this year. FSD is an important revenue stream for Tesla. Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk told investors that "it will be Tesla's most important revenue stream," and the company has repeatedly increased the price of its software package, which now stands at $15,000. It has become Initially, access to the beta software was invite-only, and you had to maintain a high score on the driver monitoring system to use it. But Tesla rolled out the beta to all cars with the right hardware on the same day eight cars crashed.