Tesla Employees Raised Concerns About Autopilot Long Before Fatal Crash
Tesla has had a tough couple of months defending its Autopilot advanced cruise control feature. The semi-autonomous technology has been linked to a crash that killed a Tesla driver in May, and brought up in numerous nonfatal accidents since then.
Now, CNN has interviewed several current and former Tesla employees, all of whom say they raised significant safety concerns during Autopilot development?only to be dismissed by CEO Elon Musk.
Those with inside knowledge of how Autopilot was developed and implemented describe a culture that eschewed safety precautions in the name of faster rollout of the new technology. One unnamed source told CNN that the team’s motto was “not to let the perfect be the enemy of the better,” with Musk insisting, “don’t let concerns slow progress.” Eric Meadows, a former Tesla autopilot engineer who has since been dismissed, told CNN that his initial excitement for the technology turned to fear as he realized its limitations. “I came in with this mentality that Elon had: I want to go from on-ramp to off-ramp and the driver doesn’t have to do anything,” he said.
“The last two months I was scared someone was going to die.”
According to Tesla insiders, Musk initially wanted Autopilot to let drivers abdicate the car’s controls completely, allowing videos to play on the Model S’s giant dashboard touchscreen while the car was in motion. Engineers raised safety and liability ...
-------------------------------- |
|
Escort MAX 4 Review: In-Depth Look At This Affordable Radar Detector
02-05-2024 07:26 - (
motor )