The fatal accident of a Tesla employee makes headlines

The Autopilot autonomous driving system of Tesla continues to spark debate after the death of an employee of the company… who was intoxicated.

Tesla’s stubbornness in wanting to get us to abandon the steering wheel in favor of computers is concerning. Both for the occupants of the involved vehicles and for other road users who share the same trajectory. Furthermore, conducting on-road trials, authorized in the United States, is also another matter of concern.

Why? Because Elon Musk, in all his ventures—from SpaceX to Neuralink and Tesla—adopts a “trial-and-error” strategy. If something doesn’t work, it’s no big deal; we try again, whether for a rocket worth several million dollars and an ultra-polluting one for the planet, or for an animal with electrodes implanted in its brain… or a Tesla that aims to drive itself.

An autonomous and irresponsible driving?

This issue has recently been revealed by the Washington Post. In 2022, one of Tesla’s employees and a friend reportedly went to play golf and took the opportunity to drink alcohol. Afterwards, they got back in the car to go home, with the driver apparently not “drunk,” according to his passenger, who decided to activate the fully autonomous driving assistance of his Tesla.

The two men experienced a terrible crash and ended up hitting a tree. The car reportedly caught fire, killing the trapped driver in the blaze. His surviving passenger admitted that during the trip, the car made several lane deviations for no apparent reason.

Who is responsible?

Autopsy results revealed that the driver’s blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit in Colorado, absolving Tesla. However, the driver’s widow places the responsibility on the American manufacturer, which still promotes its technology as safer than human driving, implicitly encouraging drivers to use their cars when they are no longer capable of driving. Could Tesla’s “commercial” promise be responsible for this death?

The investigation will continue and reignite the debate about the reliability of autonomous driving systems. In Europe, the level of autonomy is reduced compared to the United States. Perhaps because the complexity of such assistance struggles to demonstrate its relevance between benefit and risk.

ALL THE NEWS ABOUT TESLA