I was amused this week to see the video of a Tesla driving down a perfectly straight motorway in Taiwan. The weather was good and everything was normal except for the truck on its side in the outside lane. We the viewers could see it. All the other drivers on the motorway could see it too. But the Tesla, bombing along at around 60 mph, with its self-drive autopilot system used, did NOT see it.
It even went straight past the driver of the overturned truck who was at the side of the road, a good distance from the crash site, frantically warning oncoming drivers to slow down. And then came the impact.
Luckily, no one was hurt. But the accident does serve as a useful reminder about technology. It can make life fun and it can make life convenient. But we’ve not yet reached a point where we can rely on it to behave itself.
The owner of that Tesla in Taiwan used the car’s self-drive system and sat back, assuming it would be able to see a crashed truck directly ahead. Had he not researched the car at all? I know Tesla says its autopilot system is nine times safer than a human. But a quick Google search would suggest that sometimes, like all technology, it isn’t safe at all.
I actually quite like Tesla’s current range of cars. I think they are interesting and fun and I can see why the Model 3 was the best-selling car in Britain. But I have a word of warning for anyone who wants to buy one and use its autopilot: Don’t. Think of it as the tool you get on a Swiss Army knife that can be used for getting stones out of a horse’s hoof. It’s a talking point but you’d never actually use it.
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