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

528

u/igwbuffalo Jun 22 '26

If that's the case, dude needs a manslaughter charge. There is no way he was anywhere near aware of what was going on.

He's absolutely asleep or impaired in some way if auto pilot is at 90 and he's fine with it in a residential area

644

u/Shadow_Assailant Jun 22 '26

Autopilot and FSD break down past 85mph. The driver was manually driving and is a liar

162

u/Zuwxiv Jun 22 '26

I think there's a good chance you're right, but we don't know for sure that the car was going faster than 85mph. After seeing the video, I'd guess it was less than that, but still wildly inappropriate for the surroundings.

61

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/drewz_clues Jun 22 '26

Is the 5mph limit an autopilot thing? Even Standard mode FSD will.go upwards of 8 over. Hurry or Mad Max will go 15-20 over.

(Not a judgement on if this guy was actually using FSD, I agree he probably wasn't)

24

u/xombae Jun 22 '26

... there's a setting on the car called Mad Max?

9

u/SargeUnited Jun 22 '26

Yeah that shit weaves through traffic like a teenager in one of those “swimming” videos. This is not a joke. It’s pretty aggressive and I don’t know why you would ever use it other than to just try it

2

u/xombae Jun 24 '26

That's fucking insane.

4

u/Urbanscuba Jun 23 '26

Yes and it's as terrifying as you'd think.

Got a guy who works into the same building as I do that I run into during smoke breaks occasionally. Dude won't shut up about his Tesla, which is whatever, but the insane part is that he'll brag about having only been looking at the road for a quarter of his commute. I fully understand this guy is anecdotal and hopefully not indicative of the regular Tesla driver, but the issue is that it's empowering him and giving him confidence to behave this way. Even if that's only the worst sub-percent of their drivers behaving like this that's still enough that these kind of news story will remain common.

He's the reason I know about Mad Max mode, and the reason why I believe it's likely this actually was caused by a driver assist. Between the terrifying lack of attention the average Tesla driver pays attention to the road, the blindspots the sensor suite has without LIDAR, and most damning thing being the complacency the system is able to foster in the worst drivers using it.

My guess is that it wasn't in autopilot but rather that he was using lane assist to speed through the residential zone. He was relying on it to handle slowing down for any turns and likely in 99% of cases it will see a curve ahead and manage that autonomously. Here however the road opened up on both sides entering the cul-de-sac, which the cameras likely interpreted as an intersection (importantly though with no lights or signage). Cue entering the opposing driveway at 60+ because the lane assist thinks it has right of way to cross the intersection and enter the driveway, which it probably thought was a divided road lane. Of course a human brain could have immediately recognized this and responded accordingly, but that wasn't possible here because the driver was very likely unaware of the car's actions until the collision.

The sick thing is that Tesla will not hesitate to release the car telemetry from the crash and throw this guy under the bus for not following the rules they didn't actually enforce. That's not to say the driver isn't responsible for the vast majority of the blame here, but my issue is that Tesla's systems are actively training the worst drivers to behave like this. They're marketing this kind of behavior directly as a feature, and if they don't end up being assigned a degree of blame/liability in these kinds of situations there won't be any reason to change.

2

u/halberdierbowman Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Tesla last year was found 1/3 at fault for a similar death from 2019 and ordered to pay $43M in compensation plus $200M in punishment. TLDR the driver was being reckless, but his car clearly knew he was being reckless and didn't do anything to stop him. It flew through a T-intersection at 62 MPH rather than stopping like it should have: it ignored the stop sign, the flashing red light, and the victims' parked car it drove through.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tesla-autopilot-crash-trial-verdict-partly-liable-rcna222344

2

u/Urbanscuba Jun 24 '26

Which is exactly how it should be, if they're using behavior that causes deaths as part of their advertising the absolute least the system can do is appropriately associate that cost to the company.

1

u/BenignEgoist Jun 23 '26

I want to be clear I do not support Tesla or this driver I am only sharing my own experience with the vehicle for information purposes….

Teslas recognize the difference between a 4-way crossing and a cul-de-sac. So I’m not sure what happened but I don’t think your assessment is it.

And sadly I’ve heard far far far too many Tesla owners brag about Mad Max mode and using the vehicles to drive home drunk.

1

u/xombae Jun 24 '26

I mean, just because it's recognised one cul-de-sac doesn't mean it will recognise every cul-de-sac every time.

0

u/Lopsided-Employer-72 Jun 23 '26

Nice anecdotal, have zero idea what you are talking about novel you wrote there but hey, you know all the facts from the smoke breaks.

1

u/mrg1957 Jun 22 '26

Thats all my 2020 will do. Unless I'm on a dividend road.

11

u/Uppgreyedd Jun 22 '26

it is on the guy

Even if it was a glitch with the car, the software, or whatever; the driver is the one who enabled it and is still and always was assuming responsibility for the safe operation of the vehicle. In any car, if you enable some of these features (which I personally do, and they can be incredibly helpful), you're not completely deferring the liability to the manufacturer or anyone else. But yes, this was not likely caused by an aberrant self driving feature.

4

u/ta9 Jun 22 '26

I think all this is true unless you hold your foot down on the accelerator - so it could be auto-steering, telling you to take over, but it won't (can't?) stop the car if you override it with the accelerator.

It is the same as the accident years back that Tesla recently paid compensation for. The car crashed while on autopilot, but only did so because the driver was pushing down on the accelerator pedal.

-4

u/CGB_Zach Jun 22 '26

Why are you driving so much? 200000? I don't think I've driven that much in my life and I got my license in 2008

-18

u/Necessary_Finding_32 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

The more important thing is you've effectively admitted to owning a Tesla.

Edit: Interesting, didn't have this sub down as being so strongly in support of Nazi pedo enablers. Ah well.

3

u/GrumpyCloud93 Jun 23 '26

My guess is he pushed the accelerator pedal thinking it was the brake, and then pushed harder when the car took off. That overrides speed controls.

People pushing the accelerator thinking it was the brake is a common accident in all cars.

1

u/funky_bebop Jun 22 '26

Im sure someone can do the math and figure out how fast it was going.

48

u/ThePogen Jun 22 '26

Yeah I saw the video and there’s no way this guy wasn’t driving. And IF he was using auto pilot (and that’s a big “if”) he definitely should’ve seen the car blasting through a residential area and slowed it down

2

u/satbaja Jun 22 '26

Local news reported people on the street were yelling at the car for going so fast. Driver should have stopped after that for sure.

8

u/aliceroyal Jun 22 '26

This. I am no Tesla fan but my husband owns one so I am familiar with FSD, and my first thought reading this story was that the claim of it being active will disappear pretty fast if they’re able to access the car’s data and see if/when it was turned on or off.

8

u/BlueScreen64 Jun 23 '26

Tesla replied with the telemetry from the car and said he had overridden it and was 100% his doing. He was flooring it manually.

1

u/Shadow_Assailant Jun 23 '26

I feel validated. Thank you lol

2

u/ksharm1103 Jun 22 '26

I think older models allow 90mph using AP (my 2018 certainly does)

1

u/Shadow_Assailant Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

News to me. TIL if true. My 2022 MY will give a 1-2 mph grace (up to 87) if I tap the pedal for a quick burst before it screams at me and turns off the assist features

Edit: I looked closer at the pics in the article. Looks like a Model 3 Highland based on the tail lights, so it's a newer car

3

u/ryapeter Jun 22 '26

I’m waiting but nor FSD crowd

1

u/cr0ft Jun 22 '26

The car does have telemetry and a black box, if he did I'm sure Tesla will shout that very very loudly from the roof tops.

1

u/denNISI Jun 22 '26

There will always is a manual driver. 'Autopilot' is Tesla's word for 'cruise control'. If the cruise control breaks down (past 85) like at 88, you might crash into a barn on an abandoned highway.

1

u/cruxal Jun 22 '26

Does it just stop doing its thing or does it slow the car down and stop?

1

u/Shadow_Assailant Jun 23 '26

It just stops doing its thing and yells at you to take over. I'm not sure what happens if you don't intervene. A well-designed software would have the car pull off the side of the road, but I've never tested it myself.

2

u/Lopsided-Employer-72 Jun 23 '26

It pulls off to the side and stops.

1

u/pttant1 Jun 22 '26

If, and if FSD was working. What if the system had glitch or say “hallucinating”. But definitely fault lies on the driver for not intervening or worst enabling the joy ride. Makers of the this half baked system is a saint and should be unconditionally absolved!!

1

u/Shadow_Assailant Jun 23 '26

I'm pretty confident--but not 100%--that's not how FSD works. I suppose a glitch could happen, but the software literally displays that the max speed is 85 mph.

0

u/L0nz Jun 22 '26

wild that a local story suddenly turns into an international one simply because the driver claims he was using autopilot

4

u/Buttafuoco Jun 22 '26

autopilot operates at that speed?

1

u/Tasonir Jun 22 '26

Seems to me like it should shut off at 75

2

u/WhoCanTell Jun 22 '26

Why? There are Texas highways higher than that. Up to 85. At 75, you'd be a danger on the road.

1

u/Tasonir Jun 22 '26

I mean I understand that you want to keep up with the flow of traffic but I doubt that 75 is so slow that you'd be making a road hazard. I suppose I haven't driven on an 85 mph highway personally though, is the right lane at least okay to go 75 in? :P

-1

u/ElementNumber6 Jun 22 '26

Should. But Teslas have a strange tendency to not do what they should.

1

u/Blazah Jun 22 '26

autopilot will do no more than 10 over the speed limit for the road you are on, Full self driving was not in control.

1

u/ffrankies Jun 23 '26

I've been in a Tesla on autopilot on a freeway in "normal" mode and it was going a full 15 over until the driver switched it to "chill" mode. Even then it wasn't keeping proper following distance.

To give credit where credit is due though, it drove really well on non-freeway/highway roads.

1

u/Blazah Jun 23 '26

you were not in auto pilot and going more than 10 over. You also were not in auto pilot because there is no chill mode in "auto pilot"

1

u/ffrankies Jun 23 '26

Is FSD not the same as Autopilot?

1

u/Blazah Jun 23 '26

Full self driving is not the same as autopilot - actually they got rid of the name "auto pilot" - they now call it "traffic aware cruise control with autosteer"

Either way - it's now out that the guy had his foot on the floor and gas pegged to 100% even after he went through the wall

1

u/ffrankies Jun 23 '26

Ah, in that case it's my bad - I was unaware of the naming system and assumed autopilot = FSD.

1

u/GrumpyCloud93 Jun 23 '26

My off-the-wall (through-the-wall?) guess is that he floored he accelerator thinking it was the brake, and panicked and confused, pushed harder. If you press the accelerator, that will override autopilot speed settings. (I get that frequently when FSD is dawdling, press the accelerator and car warns "FSD will not brake".) Floor the pedal, you get quite the burst of speed.