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Tesla's autopilot feature has gotten a bad rap in recent months after two people were involved in crashes while it was enabled, with one tragically losing their life in the process. Now though it may have redeemed itself somewhat, as the autonomous vehicle feature just saved a man's life by taking him to hospital.
The man in question was driving home from work in Springfield, Missouri, when he began suffering from what would later be diagnosed as a pulmonary embolism. It manifested itself as a searing pain in his stomach and chest, making it nearly impossible for him to operate his Tesla Model X. Instead of pulling over, the man directed his car to drive him to the hospital, which it promptly did.
He only had to take over when it came to parking the vehicle, some 20 miles of autonomous driving later.
Autopilot uses sensors to detect road lines, speed and distance to obstacles
Ultimately his medical complaint was solved and the man in question was very pleased that the feature was there. He thinks it will go on to save many lives in the future and is convinced that had it not been present, he may not have made it to hospital in time. Medical staff too were said to be surprised he was able to make it to hospital in his condition (as per BBC).
“If something like that happens where I become unconscious or incapacitated while I'm driving, I'm not going to cross over the interstate and slam into somebody or slam into one of the big rock walls,” the survivor said in comment.
The other big stories involving autopilot have rarely been this positive, with one recorded death which the NHTSA is investigating. However we did see a video not that long ago of a crash being avoided thanks to the autopilot's reactions.
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KitGuru Says: This is exactly why autonomous vehicles are going to change everything. Even at the bare minimum of taking over when people lose the ability to control a vehicle through sleep, inattention or a serious medical condition, it will save countless lives.
Tesla is getting a bad rep for two accidents? I’d still prefer that to human drivers, their rep should be abominable by now.
Very true, Lucas. I’d trust a properly made autopilot over a human driver any day of the week.
one of them had the car speeding into the back end of a tractor trailer and ripping his head off. something about the autopilot mistaking the white trailer for open road.
point is relying on the autopilot entirely is foolish, at this point its a neat toy but the driver should be ready to respond in an instant if something malfunctions. and that doesn’t even touch on the moral questions that can come up when an ai decides who live and who dies in an accident.
the morality is of course unrelated to the so-called bad reputation. Fact is that the car crashed because the driver was not paying attention to the road. Tesla is currently still supposed to work in tandem with the driver; it drives but the driver should also pay attention. Precisely because it is not yet perfect.
wouldn’t say the morality issue is unrelated, just that most people haven’t taken the time to think about it.
the major issue with the autopilot right now is that there isn’t anything in the cars with it to prevent drivers from screwing around. there are videos of morons taking naps, or playing games, or countless other stupid things, while the autopilot is engaged; tesla needs to add some form of sensor to their cars to prevent this.
<<tw. ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★::::::!ir267m:….,….
An incredibly dumb thing to do. In the hype around this event, Tesla should have come out and said that your car is NOT an ambulance. Your best chance of survival is to get expert medical help as soon as possible. An advanced paramedic might save your life in the time it takes for your technological marvel to get there – in fact this guy had to drive part of the way himself anyway. If the Tesla encountered traffic it couldn’t get past it would have stopped. An ambulance would have got through…..He’s lucky to be alive and he reduced his probability of surviving by being seduced by the technological hype around Tesla.
So the point is that Tesla is getting a bad rep because consumers are idiots. It almost sounds like an argument for gun control 😀