U.S. regulators asleep at the wheel

My friend Mark Palko has been on Tesla's case for a while. He just commented on the latest fatal accident involving a Tesla vehicle. Amusingly, at this point in time, we are supposed to believe that a ghost crashed the car killing two passengers - as we're being told neither a human driver nor Tesla's software was directing the car.

Mark rightfully laid the blame on regulators. It's pretty clear that U.S. regulators put business profits above citizens' interests. We learned how Boeing was allowed to inspect themselves. The Europeans, not U.S. regulators, are reigning in the likes of Google and Facebook. Tesla's case is particularly telling.

Observation #1

U.S. regulators are allowing Tesla to lie about its "self-driving" technology. The "Auto-pilot" software does not auto-pilot - in fact, drivers are told to have their hands on the wheel at all times. The "full self-driving" mode is not what researchers in the field mean by full self-driving. Tesla customers are used as test subjects for an immature technology. The regulators should have stepped in to stop the false advertising but they have been absent.

Observation #2

After an accident happens, it appears that regulators rely on Tesla to report on itself. It seems that only Tesla has data on whether Auto-pilot or other features were turned on or off, whether the driver's hands were on the wheels, etc. Imagine the Chauvin trial, and the only video for the incident came from the police's bodycams. How do we know the footage hasn't been edited, and that the best perspectives were submitted?

Observation #3

The entire conceit of requiring the drivers to have their hands on the wheel at all times while using "Auto-pilot" not only makes a mockery of the term "auto-pilot" but also creates a liability-free zone for Tesla. If the driver's hands were determined not to be on wheel (and the only source of this information is Tesla), any accident is blamed on the driver. In past accidents, they even faulted drivers for momentarily not touching the wheel. If the driver had hands on the wheel, the accident is also not caused by Tesla because this accident could not have been prevented.

Observation #4

Some Tesla fans argue that everyone should know "Auto-pilot" is false advertising, and so any dead or injured Tesla customers have themselves to blame since they chose to use the feature. Using this logic, anyone who died from opioids deserves to die since they chose to ingest.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Michael Droy]

Yes yes and yes.
You are absolutely right to tie Tesla regulators in with Boeing regulators. You could add the financial regulator for both, but particularly for Tesla.