In response to the fatal Tesla Model S accident in Florida last week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) expressed its desire to investigate whether there are potential risks with the automated driving assistance system. This may have an impact on future regulations related to automated driving technology and even the application of driverless cars.
According toBloomberg NewsIt is pointed out that the U.S. Transportation Safety Board expressed its desire to investigate whether there are potential risks in automated driving assistance systems, such as whether existing technologies are over-exaggerated, causing drivers to ignore the safety they should pay attention to, and whether current technologies are indeed safe enough. It also hopes to confirm whether there are sufficient regulations to regulate the application of such technologies.
The National Transportation Safety Board's involvement in the investigation may have some impact on the future application of autonomous driving technology or driverless car technology. It is expected that there may be more "restrictions" in future development. For example, the California government previously required Google's driverless cars to still be equipped with rearview mirrors, braking systems that can be operated by on-board testers, and steering wheels. Although Google emphasizes that its driverless cars will no longer cause accidents such as collisions with pedestrians, it is still required to comply with such regulations for safety reasons.
Regarding the first accident in Florida caused by the automated driving assistance system, which was previously reported by the mediaFatal car accidentsTesla stated that the Model S involved in the accident may have misjudged a nearby large pickup truck as a road sign due to the influence of light and similar colors on the sensor element. At the same time, Tesla also emphasized that it did not overthink the automatic driving assistance system. It even emphasized that when the function is enabled, the driver should still keep his hands on the steering wheel to pay attention to sudden accidents at any time, and eliminate danger when the system fails to activate the corresponding function.
In subsequent investigations, it was stated that the owner of the Model S involved in the accident was suspected of watching the movie "Harry Potter" through a DVD player, but there is currently no evidence to clarify whether the owner was distracted at the time of the accident, or whether the system problem could not be eliminated, leading to the tragedy.
Tesla's current stance suggests that its self-driving assistance system is still in the testing phase, and it emphasizes that drivers should remain attentive to the road ahead when using this feature, and recommends keeping both hands firmly on the steering wheel to avoid distraction. However, the US National Transportation Safety Board and other relevant US government agencies may impose stricter regulations on the application of self-driving technology, potentially making future self-driving technology and driverless car design even more challenging.
Although more regulatory restrictions may slow down the development of autonomous and driverless car technologies, or limit vehicle design, safety is the most important thing for users.
