Pilots Take Flight

Hit-and-Run is a serious crime.  And somebody in the Australian state of Victoria has been critically injured so I'm not going to make light of it.

But the driver is blaming her car.

The Drive story is here.

She can't be too bright because when she did the "run" bit, she did it on foot leaving the car behind.

It's a Tesla and she claims it was in "auto-pilot" mode.  I'm sure the car will be able to tell the Victorian Police what mode it was in at the time, but even if it was driving, as Tesla keep pointing out, the person sat in the driver's seat is still in charge.

I think Tesla really could do with renaming that feature.

Apparently, when this comes to Court, there will be much interest in the outcome from a legal responsibility point of view and also from an insurance payout point of view.

But at least she was caught.

Unlike the paraglider pilot in this story.

Smashed

You can't legislate for stupid.

This is what happens when you put your Tesla into Auto-Pilot mode so you can eat your breakfast:

It didn't catch fire (which some Teslas have been known to do even when not crashing) but it did take out a Fire Truck.  Car+Driver have the story here.  Apparently, because the driver spilled his coffee and his bagel was smashed up in the crash, they aren't sure which was in his hand at the time.

Meanwhile, in the North-West of England yesterday.  It was a gin truck that was driven into - by another HGV. (Heavy Gin Vehicle?)

Gin spilled onto the carriageway but was coated with foam before anyone could get smashed on it.  The M6 was shut leading to much annoyance and many puns.  The BBC have the story here.  My favourite pun was "Was it in the sloe lane?"

Meanwhile, in a different bit of the North-West of England, also yesterday, this squirrel avoided getting smashed up against a van:

Coming and Going

Am I into pornography?

All I'll say is that I don't own a pornograph.

But, like Elon Musk, I am aware that there is a very popular piece of pornography that has allegedly been produced in a Tesla Model X being driven on Autopilot.  I know Elon knows about it because Car+Driver have the story of his tweets on the subject.

Is the unnamed star of the film to be referred to as "Model X"?

And who has got their hands on the wheel?

It May Be an Automatic - But You've Still Got to Be There

The boss of Tesla's Autopilot programme has just quit.  Probably not connected but it is on the back of a couple of accidents including, tragically, a fatal one.

 

So, not a good idea to put too much faith in the system right now.

 

Like this bloke from Nottingham did:

The BBC report on how Bhavesh Patel moved into the passenger seat after putting his car into autopilot while at 40mph on a motorway.

 

The twerp.

 

Patel said he was the "unlucky one who got caught", the court was told.

 

That implies others do it regularly without getting caught.

 

I doubt that, but if it is true, then hopefully his 18 months driving disqualification, 100 hours of unpaid work and Crown Prosecution Service costs of £1,800 will put them off.

 

Especially as it is so easy to spot a Tesla driving under autopilot by the blue lines and circles emanating from the car: