Tesla Driver Narrowly Misses Deadly Train Collision on Autopilot and People Are Arguing
For better or worse, Tesla gets people talking. The pioneering electric car brand has garnered controversy over things like the public behavior of their CEO Elon Musk, the heavily scrutinized design of their new Cybertrucks, and their forays into self-driving car technology. While autonomous driving technology shows some promise, it's still very much in its infancy, and as some Tesla owners have discovered first hand, that can have serious consequences.
The following footage, recorded earlier this month on a Tesla's dash camera, appears to demonstrate a major flaw in the car's self-driving mode. In it, the vehicle can be seen barreling head-on towards a train, a disaster avoided only by the driver's last-second intervention.
The Tesla's dash cam footage, shared to TikTok by @nbcnews, shows heavily foggy conditions outside as the self-driving vehicle navigates around Camden, Ohio. Through the mist, a train crossing can be seen up ahead, a large freight train passing behind the lit barrier. But while the train is very apparent on camera, the Tesla did not detect it, barreling towards a T-bone collision with the train at full speed.
The collision was only avoided when the driver, Craig Doty II, slammed the brakes and steered the electric vehicle off the road. He crashed his car into the crossing arm, but he stopped clear of the train by just a few yards. Had he not taken control at the last second, the ensuing accident would have almost certainly proven fatal for Doty.
Doty reportedly took full responsibility for crashing the crossing arm and nearly hitting the train. However, he still feels that Tesla's self-driving technology, at least as it existed in his car, is a "defective product."
"I was like there's no way it doesn't see the train," Craig Doty told NBC News. "There's no way it doesn't see the flashing lights. Yes, it was foggy, but you can still see the lights."
Was Driver Error Responsible for This Near Miss?
Self-driving technology often comes under fire over safety and operational concerns (case in point: Doty's video). For example, last fall, California's DMV suspended the operations of San Francisco robo-taxi company Cruise after a number of safety concerns were leveled against them, most notably a serious hit-and-run accident involving one of their autonomous vehicles. Then, a few months later, a man trapped a terrified San Francisco couple in a driverless Waymo taxi for several minutes by covering its collision sensors, freezing the car in place.
"And people want to put this technology in 80,000 pound driverless trucks. Yeah ok," said TikTok viewer @mavericktrucker1987.
While Tesla is far from the only company to come under fire over driverless technology, videos like Doty's dash cam footage don't paint a pretty picture. But is this accident on Tesla?
"He was driving in dense fog which Tesla says not to do with autopilot," remarked @calvin5040_, an observation that dozens of other TikTok commenters echoed.
That's true: Tesla warns customers that their Autopilot system may not function properly under certain conditions, including poor visibility from heavy rain, snow, or fog, such as the thick fog present during Doty's near-miss accident. One could argue that the Autopilot's use limitations are significant enough to render the product consistently unreliable (Telsa also warns that narrow roads, extreme heat and cold, and even direct sunlight can impact Autopilot functionality). However, Tesla also warns that their system is intended as a "hands-on driver assistance system" rather than a true full self-driving mode, and operators need to stay alert and ready to take over immediately if needed.
Whether you feel that the fault in this case lies with Tesla, with Craig Doty, or with both parties, this video is an important example of why drivers should never leave driving solely to autonomous systems. As much as this tech has advanced over the years, it's still got a long way to go, and when it comes to life-or-death situations, you'd better hope there's human hands on the wheel.
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