A German Transport Ministry's internal report calls Tesla's controversial Autopilot tool a "significant traffic hazard"
Tesla Autopilot Under Fire
The online publication Autoblog reports that Tesla Autopilot feature has been criticized once again by an internal report of the German Transport Ministry. According to Digital Trends, the German magazine Der Spiegel published last week excerpts from the internal report authored by the Germany's Transport Ministry's Federal Highway Research Institute. In the report, German officials come with several major critiques against Tesla's Autopilot technology.
Some tech experts say, however, that the criticisms may not be entirely fair. It seems that the German Transport Ministry tested Tesla's Autopilot feature as a fully self-driving system. But Tesla designed the technology just as a driving assistant. According to Electrek, as a result of the criticism coming from the German Transport Ministry, Tesla has issued a statement on its own, aiming to clarify how it's branding its Autopilot feature.
According to Tesla's statement, its Autopilot system consists "in a suite of technologies that operate in conjunction with the human driver." The Autopilot feature is not meant for full-autonomous driving, but rather aims to make driving less stressful and safer. The automaker added that its use of the term "Autopilot" denotes "a support system that operates under the direct supervision of a human pilot" and it is synonymous to that of the aviation industry's usage.
Tesla insisted that it has always been clear on pointing out that the Autopilot system is designed for use only in slow-moving traffic or on highways. Moreover, the company explained that there are a number of safeguards in place designed to make sure that the human driver behind the wheel remains alert. For instance, the driver first needs to agree to keep hands on the steering wheel at all times before enabling Autopilot.
According to TechCrunch, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet posted on Monday, Oct. 10, that the Autopilot system is still safer than driving cars manually and that the reports of the German Transport Ministry were "not actually based on science." According to Tesla, before one of its vehicles was involved in a fatal crash, they drove more than 130 million miles with Autopilot engaged.
