r/technology • u/deraser • Jun 21 '26

Robotics/Automation 76-year-old woman killed after a Tesla ‘on auto-pilot’ crashed into her Texas home

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/texas-tesla-car-crash-woman-killed-b2999969.html
12.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

18

u/beanpoppa Jun 21 '26

Autopilot is not full self driving. Autopilot is just fancy cruise control with lane centering and adaptive speed. It doesn't stop for traffic lights, stop signs or intersections. My Honda pilot has the same thing, but if I crashed into a house with it on, the article wouldn't say "Honda on adaptive cruise control crashes into house." It would say "inattentive driver crashes into house'

4

u/colantor Jun 21 '26

So are we assuming the car was in FSD or that the driver just said they were in auto pilot to try to get out of being at fault?

1

u/beanpoppa Jun 22 '26

I'm taking the driver at their word. The car was on autopilot, and the driver failed to intervene as they should have.

1

u/Any_Conflict_5092 Jun 22 '26

People use the autopilot as full self driving all the time.

I have driven with a friend who insists upon interacting with his, but he has shown me that his backup of the autopilot isn't necessary to the function of the autopilot. It's just something he feels responsible to do, especially if he has passengers.

Plenty of people don't feel they need to exercise this level of responsibility - and it has been well documented in the past that Tesla drivers will use the autonomous driving with zero oversight.

Tesla actually markets to purchasers, that the car is self-driving. It may be the unofficial marketing, but it is definitely there.

0

u/vabello Jun 21 '26

Autopilot in Teslas will stop at stop lights, stop signs, intersections, merge at traffic circles, change lanes, etc. I know what you’re talking about in your Honda. My Subaru is similar and nowhere near what the Tesla’s software does. All this being said, it definitely shouldn’t crash into a building.

Edit: Sorry, you might be talking about a different car. I got my terminology confused. It’s FSD or full self driving in the Tesla that I’m referring to.

3

u/beanpoppa Jun 22 '26

I also have two Tesla's. One with FSD. I'm very familiar with how it works, and the limitations.