Elon Musk’s dream of a technology that drives cars automatically could hit a roadblock. Musk owns the electric vehicle company, Tesla. Tesla is one of the largest electric car manufacturers in the world. Musk wants to incorporate fully autonomous driving technology in the vehicles. His company is struggling to make self-driving cars work properly. According to police, two people lost their lives in Texas in a Tesla car crash. Police said that no one was driving the car when the mishap occurred. Preliminary reports didn’t tell if the car was in autopilot mode, but it is evident that the vehicle was in autopilot mode. The autopilot mode requires a driver to occupy the driving seat. The accident indicated failure the of another autopilot mode by Tesla.
Police investigation showed that the car was a fully electric 2019 Tesla car. There was a person in the passenger seat on the front. The car turned into a ball of fire. Firefighters struggled for almost four hours to douse the flames. As many as 30,000 gallons of water were used during the operation. Firefighters at one point had to contact the car manufacturer to understand the mechanism and ask how the blaze could be brought under control. Police said that the vehicle was traveling at a high speed. The mishap happened after the car failed to make a turn. It then hit a tree after it drove off the road. It remains unclear whether the driver-assist mode was activated.
This was not the first road mishap involving a Tesla vehicle. The country’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating more than 20 similar crashes. Notably, Tesla in past issued cautioned that the autopilot mode is different from an autonomous system. The mode requires a driver intervention at regular intervals. Tesla, however, calls its autopilot mode full self-driving. But it is yet to make incorporate features that will require no human intervention. No carmaker in the world currently offers a complete full self-driving option. Musk believes that full self-driving is the future and investing in finding the right technology will yield fruitful results. Tesla’s full self-driving feature is a topic of talk in the last few years.
Carolyn is a technology graduate and loves to write about anything related to technology as well as writes in others sectors. Carolyn is a professional writer with over 7 years of experience. Initially starting off as a programmer, Carolyn decided to combine her knowledge about technology and writing and that’s how she joined Reporter Expert.