This was a very tragic accident that resulted in the death of the driver behind the wheels of a Model S Tesla. The NTSB concluded today, with their release of a 500 page report, that the driver had failed to respond to directions to put his hands on the wheel and therefore was responsible for the accident.
A software update has been since made to penalize drivers if they don’t keep their hands on the wheel when directed. As a Tesla driver myself, I have fallen victim to this enhanced safety feature. If you don’t respond quickly enough, then the car disengages the autopilot feature and you can’t turn it back on until the car has been at a complete rest for a period for time.
We can only wish that all cars will eventually have the same level of logging that Tesla cars do, so we can remove all doubt as to what actually happened at the scene of an accident.
The board said the Tesla alerted the driver seven times with a visual of “Hands Required Not Detected.” The authorities said the motorist, a former Navy Seal, had his hands on the wheel for 25 seconds during the 37 minutes of the trip when they should have been placed on the steering wheel.
via Tesla Model S warned driver in fatal crash to put hands on steering wheel | Ars Technica