The National Transportation Safety Board has discovered that the man who was killed in a crash involving a Tesla SUV was playing a game on his phone at the time of the crash.
The man was identified as Apple engineer Walter Huang.
The NTSB said Huang was on his phone playing a game while the vehicle’s autopilot system was engaged. The SUV swerved and hit a concrete barrier on the freeway in Mountain View, California, in March 2018.
So on top of all the advanced technology Tesla also has the self cleaning oven feature? Not bad.
No COLON, ovens are left for you wimins to clean!!
We’re gonna pitch a Huang Bang Doodle all night long.
Engineer, shoulda been sitting in the caboose.
The fact that NTSB even allows a vehicle to have “autopilot” when I can get a distracted driving ticket in a drive through for looking at my phone tells me the $$ and the back room antics are third worldish
HOW DARE THEY allow autopilot to paraphrase a global icon
Need for Speed, or Grand Theft Auto?
Three Kimgdoms.
D.W.A.
What I didn’t realize is that Teslas have aluminum bodies because aluminum is so much lighter than steel.
Aluminum has a melting point lower than the orange area of a candle’s flame and is just a bit stronger than fibre-glass.
No wonder those things disappear into ash and disintegrate when they crash.
And the government of BC is pushing these death traps on people by giving them “incentives” to buy them.
Wealthy people can be such fools sometimes.
Aluminium also burns rather nicely. Just ask the survivors of the Royal Navy frigates HMS Antelope and HMS Ardent, both of which were sunk during the Falklands War. Their superstructures were made from aluminium.
It also disintegrates into dust impacting at high velocities which is why airlines don’t do so well when crashing.
when taking fire fighting , you learn that there are 2 types of fires you can not/do not put out with water. Those are electrical & metal, aluminum burns hot enough to take oxygen right out of the water, and electrical is self explanatory!
Metal fires required a Class D fire extinguisher.
If it is magnesium then I suggest you retire to a safe distance and enjoy the show.
Wealthy people can be stupid as they want to because they can pay for their mistakes in CA$H.
Unless their mistake kills them.
Most of my F150 body is aluminum. They don’t seem to have a history of disappearing in a crash ?
Car-ma suits ya, Huang.
What was the name of that computer in 2001 A Space Odessey? Oh yeah, Hal. Didn’t he whack someone in the movie? That was back in 1968. Just got my license, too. Back when 440 Cutlass and others were big. No plooshun stuff. Who knew? Somebody was watching this guy.
The best part is Tesla installed them in the car.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cgN_60ljQKM
Time for a Darwin Award?
Engineers tend to discount and don’t pay much heed to the field of biology.
On my new GMC truck when you hit the navigate button it tells you the vehicle must be stopped. But when you press the music button you can slide through almost 200 channels of SIRIUS satellite radio with no warnings. Entertainment must have been grandfathered. But I don’t understand this need people have to be distracted while driving.
Some of my riding friends berated me for not installing GPS on my motorcycle. I have no GPS, no entertainment (cd palyers, radio etc) on my bike. I always told them “I find just pure 100% attentive riding amusing enough”. And a form of meditation.
I have no objection to some driver assist options, annoying as they can be betimes; there are a couple on my Audi Q5. But I am dead set against auto-pilot on an automobile as I consider the software challenge insurmountable.
I always told them “I find just pure 100% attentive riding amusing enough”. And a form of meditation.
Over the years, I’ve often driven stretches of road where radio reception was poor (no SiriusXM in my car). Often, I don’t even miss it. I’m focused on my driving, but I also admire and think about the scenery.
Amen, few things are more relaxing and pleasant than a drive on an open road outside of major metropolitan areas.
I says assassination, just like all previous “auto-pilot” attributed deaths.
The Scum Lord must be prosecuted, not lauded as a progressive technocrat. He is taking out people all over North America.
For whatever reason, all Tesla and other self-driving deaths appear to be high-profile. If I was a cop, I would be highly suspicious of this.
It only takes one Excel spreadsheet to arrive at the conclusion regarding what is going on.
When I and my then-10 year old had sat down to read about Manson family, we immediately solved the crime. It was the assassination of Abigail Folger, ordered by Beverly Matter. It had taken us a full 30 minutes to solve. Will anyone challenge the murderous Scum Lord???
“The Scum Lord must be prosecuted, not lauded as a progressive technocrat. He is taking out people all over North America.”
Actually, he is mainly taking out idiots who believe the snake oil salesman. That is a form of natural selection. Not necessarily a bad thing.
So much for the narrative – I’m thinking it
🙂 🙂 🙂
Yea go ahead try to bust me for thought crimes 🙂 🙂 🙂
Tesla may be safer than other brands and models, on average, but devil is in the details.
It is just that so many Tesla-induced deaths result from a sudden acceleration and a collision with an immovable object, that any law enforcement officer worth their weight in sawdust should start asking questions, not just write a report and wink it Okay. Any head of DOT should at least issue a warning to drivers, to alert them that the auto-pilot feature may not necessarily be safe enough to rely on it, to exercise extra caution when driving.
I know that it is too much to ask for due diligence before allowing self-driving algorithms on the road, like requiring that it only be enabled on the roads that have machine-readable signs, and on those roads that can be certified for safe operation of said vehicles. No, of course that is not happening since there are too many hipsters who demand the tech. But at least issue a warning!
Crickets! Crickets from those, who would immediately send helicopters, armored vehicles, and a SWAT team, were I to clean my 22 rimfire bolt action rifle in my backyard.
How is that that you have the audacity to claim that you live in a free and democratic state (either US or Canada, does not matter) but you allow such double standards?
…Asians are well known as bad drivers… I better check my “White Privilege”. HaarHaar!
The only response I can think of in this case is as follows …
Hahahahahahahhahahahah ….
Playing a game? Perhaps the one called “Monkey Spank”?
Where is the issue..??
I see this as a “feature”, not a detraction. It reduces the gene pool of smarmy self indulgent arrogant virtue signalling shits driving these laptops on wheels…and that, can only be a good thing.
That’s all good and fine until one of these robot cars takes out a pedestrian that its sensors cannot see because they commit the sin of wearing dark clothing at night. The rest of us have to share the roads with these damn things.
Based on the stupidity and gullibility of the average westerner these days, I think Musk should be sued into oblivion for false advertising and negligence by boldly using the term “autopilot” for a feature which is in reality little more than “enhanced cruise control”.
In a culture of bizarre and silly warning labels designed only to keep company’s safe from litigation, I guess it is no surprise that an arrogant Musk would do the exact opposite and directly mislead his customers towards an unsafe use for one of his products that it was NOT designed to do.
Thankfully this terrible incident will be no further deterrence to our glorious self-driving future than early private space flight deaths are a deterrent to our reign in space.
… also, self driving cars are the only hope for me to ever get a driver’s license.
In the old old “Lost In Space” TV Series … there was a helpful robot with a large illuminated “screen” that Flashed and blared “DANGER, Will Robinson!” … which helped protect the life of an immature, childish, young Will Robinson. Sadly, Elon’s giant illuminated touch screen gives no such WARNINGS to immature Tesla drivers.
If an Idiot thinks he can go have a sleep in the back while the vehicle is on cruise control It is no surprise another idiot will play video games while on auto pilot. This seems to be a means to cull some of the less intelligent from the populace.
Mischief is important.
It was the game, see.
Whatever device he was playing on,with whatever software,was obviously compatible with Tesla’s programmes.
It synched right in,the next thing poor Huang knew he was supervising/playing his own death.
Thus no phones can be safely used in Tesla’s product.
“This science” is a consensus of all experts,unprecedented and as real as the “proof” of manmade global warming.
“But, But, I’m an engineer” Crash, thud, kaaaboom.
As someone who has worked in the software development field all his life, I would never engage “autopilot” much less take my hands from the wheel.
Especially if they employ “Agile” product development.
More than once I have seen the lack of a requirement analysis phase in a project leading to 90% code complete and suddenly finding a new requirement (that really is a requirement, not a wish-list item) that just doesn’t fit with the current software architecture at all.
Rather than scrapping six months work, they make horrible hacks to the existing code to shoehorn the new requirement in there.
It’s horrible, it doesn’t work well, but that is all they can do.
I’d love to see (from a safe distance) one of these Teslas on a slushy, icy road. These sensor-laden vehicles can’t handle dry and warm California and Arizona much less cold, stormy, snow-covered Michigan or Manitoba. Its astounding that these things are allowed on public roads.
Yesterday’s driving assignment was to drive from Edmonton to Grande Prairie and back. Weather was sub optimal. Freezing rain, moderate to heavy snowfall and falling temperatures limited visibility. Decision time. Reach for the 4 X 4 F150 equipped with good snow tires a winch and a shovel and has a 1200 km range at -30F and seating for 6 or reach for the tesla.
The F150 it is.
How was it Whitecourt to Valleyview? How was the Smokey River hill? Drove a 2005 F-150, 4×4 the same route umpteen times a year, Calgary to GP and NE BC, for 12 of the last 20 years. Best truck I ever drove.
The snow started about Sangudo and got heavier the closer to Whitecourt I got. From there the road was quite heavy unless a plow had been out in front. I passed several. The hills are always fun and the layer of ice on the road made them even more fun. Valleyview to Debolt was the best part and once past the Smokey the road turned to ice. Several semis in the ditch. The way back was the same except black ice around Stony and the Grove. Lots of cars and trucks in the ditch there. I made it safe and sound. The truck never missed a beat and I never even felt is slip once.
My first job after I got my B. Sc. was at one of the gas plants in the Whitecourt area. I made lots of day trips into Edmonton while I was there, so I know that route very well.
In those days, I always dreaded heading north towards Whitecourt off the Yellowhead because it was two-lane highway. Now that it’s been twinned, it’s a much more pleasant drive.
Agreed. When I started to use the Hwy it was only 2 lanes, with the occasional passing lane. Stuck behind some semi hauling fuel as always was inevitable, once past Whitecourt, slowing to a crawl up some of those hills. Passing became a test of nerves. Never saw any accidents over the early years, though. Used to take forever to get to the job site. Now multi laned, but no work to go to. Bet there’s lots of motels boarded up now. My last trip up was mid 2015. Start of the die off of work. Frankly, Alberta is back to where it was in the mid 70’s. More people, but even less work.
I haven’t been through that area in over 2 years, but I’m sure that many of the places that were built in the time since I moved away from Whitecourt are in serious trouble now.
I know what you referred to about the traffic. My parents and I travelled that route many times as we often drove to Edmonton to visit relatives we had in the area. Unfortunately, the highway is still two lanes from Beaverlodge to the provincial border, though once in B. C., the highway there has the occasional passing lanes.
“drive from Edmonton to Grande Prairie and back”
All you need in this situation is a bomb under your seat. Edmonton sucks.
let’s all chip in and buy one for “unme”.
Just buy him a pair of scissors and tell him to run with it.
one of these days Im gonna make a movie called ‘final thoughts’ featuring scenes inspired by stories like this.
ooooooh boy, LOTS of entertainment value there.
Play with your thingy end of game. Huang made a CHOICE!!