By Anna Harris
Teslas are often glamorized as the cars that can just “do it all.” One of the main assets of the car is the Autopilot feature that allows the car to essentially drive itself with little assistance.
But the main question is: are these cars worth the hype, or are they just another accident waiting to happen?
California prosecutors have recently filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against a Tesla driver using Autopilot who ran a red light, slammed into another car and killed two people in 2019. This is the first person to be charged with a felony in the United States for a fatal crash involving an automated driving system. Los Angeles County prosecutors filed the charges in October, but they came forward in January 2022.
Autopilot means that a vehicle can guide itself without any human intervention. Even though Autopilot’s intention is to use little to no assistance, it still requires that the driver remain fully attentive to the road in case of emergency.
This feature is widely used on roads across the world with an estimated 765,000 Teslas with Autopilot in the United States alone.
High Point University junior, Colby Williams, has been a Tesla driver for two and a half years. He owns the Tesla Model 3 Performance and only uses the Autopilot feature on longer road trips.
“It’s good on city streets and stuff, but sometimes it can’t always be trusted,” said Williams. “Because sometimes when it’s in the Autopilot feature, it’ll disengage and it will start beeping and telling you to take over control. I mean, it doesn’t happen too often, but you definitely have to pay attention if you’re going to be leaving it in Autopilot.”
HPU senior, Thomas Hart, does not drive a car that has an Autopilot feature. However, he fears for the safety of those with and without the feature during serious weather conditions.
“Under dangerous conditions, such as snow or rain, it can be alarming,” said Hart. “Of course it’s up to the discretion of the driver on whether he or she wants to activate Autopilot and personally, in those conditions, I wouldn’t. I’d rather have my life in my own hands rather than an AI system that may not be equipped for the weather.”
Aside from the students’ perspectives, law enforcement has records to prove whether or not using Autopilot should be a major concern.
According to crash records from the High Point Police Department, there hasn’t been a crash involving a Tesla in 2020 or 2021 in High Point, North Carolina, let alone a crash involving Autopilot. According to Officer Jordan Spoon, the Traffic-Crash Reconstructionist with the High Point Traffic Unit, there might be some barriers to these statistics.
“The crash form for the state is sort of dated when you start looking at modern cars, but we have no way to statistically track it here in North Carolina with our standard crash form that we use,” said Spoon.
When it comes to the future of these crash forms and laws, Officer Spoon sees major change happening as technology advances.
“I think the big thing is that as technology advances, I think it’ll get better and I think it’ll get safer, but at the same time, you start having that question of if you’re truly taking that person out of that driver’s seat,” said Spoon. “What you’re seeing in this whole space right now will change tremendously for everybody and every car manufacturer in the next 5-10 years.”
As of now, the High Point Police Department will continue to use the current crash forms until changes are made.
In regards to the California case, Tesla has yet to make a comment and the company has disbanded its media relations department. Since the Autopilot crashes began, Tesla has updated its software to prevent any drivers from taking further advantage of the technology.
In the future, it will be up to the driver to decide whether or not they want to use Autopilot when driving their cars.
For more information about the California case and the Autopilot feature, check out these articles below.
Felony charges are 1st in fatal crash involving Autopilot
U.S. probing Autopilot problems on 765,000 Tesla vehicles
Anna Harris is a senior at High Point University majoring in Journalism with a double minor in Criminal Justice and Strategic Communication. For contact inquiries, please email aharris6@highpoint.edu.
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