A worse timing could you look at BMW probably can not imagine: Just hours before the Munich carmaker’s campaign presented a lot of effort on Friday afternoon to build self-driving cars, presented the message about an accident in the US all the technology in question.
Although accident in Florida no BMW driver, but the owner of a Tesla while he was traveling in the so-called autopilot mode. But the accident – because experts are certain – throws the whole industry on the subject of autonomous driving back
The accident happened already on May 7, but known. was it only now, because in the meantime the US Transportation Security Administration NHTSA has launched investigations. Joshua Brown, a 45-year-old man from Ohio was driving his Tesla Model S and had the so-called autopilot activated. Here, the Tesla will hold independently the distance to the preceding vehicle car, he accelerates, brakes, keeps track and should stop automatically especially in case of obstacles. Just did not work. As a truck at an intersection before Browns Tesla abbog left, failed sensors and cameras. The Tesla raced into the trailer. Brown did not survive.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the bereaved via short message service Twitter condolences, Tesla published a blog entry in which the causes of the crash are analyzed. The reasons seem to profane. Apparently, Tesla cameras did not recognize the white truck against the background of white cloudy sky. But why beat the radar sensors no alarm? The work with infrared, missing color contrasts they should not interfere. Musk gave a sobering statement via Twitter: “Radar hides what looks like an overhead sign, to avoid false stunts.”
The Tesla autopilot so do not differ in the worst case a trailer truck of a gantry. The problem seems to be that there is a relatively large space between the road and the trailer, but the radar is not able to determine whether the Tesla to pass through under the object. A shockingly simple reason for an error with fatal consequences.
expert Stefan Bratzel from the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) provides impact for the entire industry. “Each tragic accident is a setback for as a new technology,” said Bratzel. Especially the trust of motorists and owners take significant damage. “The accident shows that the technology is not 100 percent sure – and it never will be,” said Bratzel. Nevertheless, the expert does not believe that such accidents will lead to the technology of autonomous driving is completely stopped, but it has been delayed.
Bratzel compares the Tesla accident involving a plane crash due to technical reasons. could completely rule to him never, but we must learn from it. Nevertheless, of course, a certain degree of security must be there before you can even use the technology in traffic. “People in cars may not be a guinea pig,” he says. But after all, Tesla had received for the autopilot function admission – also in Europe. This is confirmed by a Tesla spokeswoman. It also points out that it does not handle to the autopilot to a function of autonomous driving, but the driver should be only “supported”. There is explicit evidence that you always keep your hands on the steering wheel and at any time must be able to intervene. It also handle a beta version of the autopilot, which means in the language of software developers that a program is not yet mature.
However, there was in Europe in the approval of an obligation, which is why the assistant to change lanes in the US is a little different – so it is not the world around the same software. While it is sufficient in autopilot mode in the United States to set the indicator so that the vehicle autonomously changing lanes, you must <"teReise" span class = /> additional touch in Germany and the rest of Europe the steering wheel. At the accident this difference
would have probably not changed. On the part of the federal government, it means you currently do not yet know what caused the accident. “First, the need to be clarified before we draw conclusions,” says a spokesman. “We stand by the US authorities in contact.” On basic course, the automated driving, so that supported by Assistant driving cars advancing in Germany, but the misfortune not altered.
A change in the applicable legal situation has already triggered transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), because so far are cars where the driver no longer needs to engage in all driving situations actively into traffic, prohibited in Germany. In the future the principle shall apply that drivers must use autonomous systems, but can override and disable need. The driver continues to bear the responsibility.
Because the technique misled just also allow him to place undue reliance on them. Shortly after the start of the autopilot had Tesla limit the function because more and more video appeared on the Internet, showed the drivers who tried the possibilities of the assistance system to exhaust. This leads to Harakiri actions on motorways at high speeds. You have the software then reprogrammed to the autopilot does not work on single-lane roads without separation between the two directions of travel, says the spokeswoman.
Tesla is not the only manufacturer whose cars cause accidents computerized. Even Google has already experienced clashes with its self-driving cars – but they went for the significantly lower rate of lightly. Most other manufacturers remain with their autonomous vehicles so far mainly on test tracks. Engineers other carmaker had Tesla criticized at the beginning of the introduction of the automatic pilot, because you bring a non-sophisticated technology on the market, weighing the drivers in the false security that they functioned already.
If you Tesla also sets out that the system is getting better, the longer one is now on the go. To learn the computer always better to deal with different traffic situations. Already improve the autopilot, the safety on the road, arguing the US manufacturer: the first fatal accident had happened after nearly 210 million kilometers with activated autopilot. Statistically happening in the United States to 151 million kilometers a deadly accident, when man controls himself. Even expert Bratzel is confident: “In sum autonomous driving will save many lives.” Not even the first fatal accident change anything.
To reduce the number of accidents in autonomous driving cars even more, some experts also believe in the combination of different techniques. Not only the cars are seen with sensors and cameras their environment, they should also communicate with the also smart infrastructure and other vehicles. The cross-linking leads to additional security is of Communication Networks at TU Dresden, convinced Frank Fitzek, head of Telekom Group Chair. “When autonomous driving you will always reach their limits. The respective cars are only as good as the cameras, radar and sensors, with which they are equipped.”
But for Fitzek are so equipped cars a temporary solution. “The next step is connected cars, vehicles that communicate directly and through a network with each other. They will make a decisive contribution that the number of accidents drops significantly.” Towards these vehicles that drive people to 99.99 percent accidents through the traffic, it will “still rumbling and give many a problem,” said Fitzek. “But it may not have been the beginning of development of absolute perfection of the art and no situations in which they failed to be expected.”
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