Tesla crash raises concerns over regulations

May delay US govt’s plan to outline guidelines for self-driving cars this month

FLORIDA: The fatal crash of a Tesla Motors Inc Model S in Autopilot mode has turned up pressure on auto industry executives and regulators to ensure that automated driving technology is deployed safely.

The first such known accident, which occurred in Florida in May, has highlighted tensions surrounding efforts to turn over responsibility for braking, steering and driving judgments to machines. It may delay the US government’s plan to outline guidelines for self-driving cars this month.



The cause of the Model S crash is still under investigation by federal and Florida state authorities, which are looking into whether the driver was distracted before his 2015 Model S went under a truck trailer.

Shares of Tesla and Mobileye NV - the maker of the camera vision system used in the Model S - rose as analysts said the accident was likely a short-term setback.

Advocates of automating driving point to research that shows 90% of accidents are caused by human mistakes. But machines can also make mistakes, or encounter situations they are not designed to handle.

On Friday, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said US traffic deaths rose by 7.7% to 35,200 in 2015 - the highest annual tally since 2008 and biggest single-year jump since 1966. Federal officials and industry executives say that toll could be cut by technology such as brakes that automatically engage when sensors detect an impending crash.

In March, 20 automakers agreed with regulators to make automatic emergency braking standard on nearly all US vehicles by 2022, a move that could prevent thousands of rear-end crashes annually.

But automakers have issued numerous recalls for problems with such systems. Honda Motor Company recalled nearly 50,000 Acura SUVs and cars in June 2015 because the system can apply the brakes when it detects a vehicle accelerating and is driving along a metal fence or guardrail. The US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told Reuters earlier this year he planned to propose regulatory guidelines by mid-July to clear the way for wider deployment of automated driving systems.



“This technology is coming,” Foxx said. “Ready or not, it’s coming.”

Hours before the crash became public knowledge on Thursday, the US National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart said driverless cars will not be perfect. “There will be a fatal crash, that’s for sure.”

“But that will not derail the move toward driverless cars, even if the vehicles are not ready,” he added.

Alphabet Inc’s Google unit and other companies are racing to get self-driving cars on US roads. Google has logged about 1.5 million miles of test driving, but has not said when it would offer its technology for sale.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2016.

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