Tesla Autopilot Wins Award But Has It Really Improved?

Tesla has recently earned another achievement with the improved Autopilot system. The new Autopilot improvements focus on how well the system adapts on the go. However, Tesla has yet to show if it has solved a problem that surfaced after the Autopilot system crashed a Tesla into another vehicle.

As seen on the official Tesla Twitter, the company has shown off some of their achievements with the new Autopilot system. So far, the Autopilot’s features have allowed the company to win the Euro New Car Assessment Safety Assist award.

The Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance allows the Tesla vehicle to automatically steer the car back into its lane if it detects that its driver is switching into another lane with an oncoming vehicle. It’s systems also swerve away from cliffs and steers the car back into its lane.

Lastly, the new Autopilot system allows the car to automatically adjust itself when noticing motorcycle riders and pedestrians. The car would stop and steer accordingly to give way as seen in the Twitter post.

However, a fan raised a question about the Autopilot’s capability to adjust to non-moving objects. Previously, the Autopilot system seemed to have crashed itself into a car last May. A Tesla Model S crashed in Norway onto a stalled vehicle. The Autopilot system failed to adjust and crashed to the vehicle at around 85 to 90 kph.

On the other end, the company has also settled for a $13 million payment in damages to a former employee who got hit by an autopiloted Model S during work. The Autopilot system also has another casualty as Walter Huang died last 2018 as his Model X crashed along Highway 101 in Mountain View, California.

Tesla has yet to reply to the fan if the company has already rectified the problems in the Autopilot system which has led to injury, death, or property destruction in the past. So far, the features that the company lauded seem to be geared to preventing these accidents. The Autopilot feature has cost the company not only its reputation but also in a literal financial way.