TESLA RECALL: Tesla is recalling more than 2 million vehicles – nearly every electric vehicle sold by the company in the U.S. – to fix a defective system that's supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot. pic.twitter.com/Za5JbWfrUg
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) December 14, 2023
It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission… until the bill comes due. Per The Verge:
Tesla issued a recall notice today for 2 million vehicles in the US to address a “defect” with Autopilot, the company’s groundbreaking and controversial advanced driver-assist system. Safety experts say the recall will likely make Autopilot harder to misuse.
Harder, but not impossible.
“It’s progress,” said Mary “Missy” Cummings, a robotics expert who wrote a 2020 paper evaluating the risks of Tesla’s Autopilot system, “but minimal progress.”
Cummings said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration missed an opportunity to force the company to address concerns around Tesla owners using Autopilot on roads where it wasn’t intended to work. Last week, The Washington Post published an investigation linking at least eight fatal or serious crashes to Tesla drivers using Autopilot on roads it couldn’t “reliably navigate.”
As per the recall, Tesla will issue a software update to some 2 million cars in the US — nearly every vehicle it has ever sold in the country — that will increase the number of warnings and alerts when drivers are not paying attention…
Tesla is also expanding its “three strikes and you’re out” system to include Autopilot for the first time. Previously, drivers with the more expensive and expansive Full Self-Driving feature would be locked out of the system if they were not paying attention to the road. Now, this feature will include Autopilot users as well. According to the recall, drivers will face “eventual suspension from Autosteer use if the driver repeatedly fails to demonstrate continuous and sustained driving responsibility while the feature is engaged.”…
… [T]he recall was the result of a two-year-long negotiation between NHTSA and Tesla, said Phil Koopman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University who studies autonomous vehicle safety. The company didn’t concur with the agency’s findings but ultimately agreed to issue the recall — indicating some important elements may have been left out of the recall’s purview.
“This has all the earmarks of a compromise to get the remedy out and avoid another year of negotiation between NHTSA and Tesla,” he said. “So the remedy will likely not be as robust as NHTSA would like to see.” …
Of course, the nature of the recall itself has some safety experts calling this a huge missed opportunity. Allowing Tesla to push an over-the-air software update ignores many of the structural defects with Autopilot, said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights…
“This absolutely could have gone another way,” Abuelsamid said. “NHTSA could do its job and actually force Tesla to do a recall and install robust driver eye and hand monitoring and true geofencing of the system or disable Autosteer altogether if they cannot do a hardware update.”
“NHTSA has continually dropped the ball when it comes to Tesla,” he added. “Sadly, given the agency’s history in dealing with Tesla, this was likely to be the best case outcome.”
Someone didn't want people reading about the Tesla recall https://t.co/3rb1y0xHi5
— zeddy (@Zeddary) December 13, 2023
Elon’s mommy is *still* his biggest defender on social media, though…
Intelligent people know that the @Tesla recall is usually an over the air update. The mainstream media headlines are depending on dumb people reading their articles or watching their TV shows. For example: @nytimes @CNBC @people @NewsHour @FoxNews @WIRED @RollingStone… https://t.co/CUom58UX8S
— Maye Musk (@mayemusk) December 14, 2023
My mommy says I’m special! Not stupid, special!
eclare
Wow, mom’s quote and attitude say it all. Apple, tree, etc…
sukabi
@eclare: having mommy come to your rescue at 48 isn’t a good look…
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I’m uncomfortably reminded of a post-apocalyptic video game I’ve been replaying, with a backstory that goes something like: This malfunctioning autonomous system is going to obliterate all life on Earth in the next eighteen months. The good news: there’s a way to fix it. The bad news: the fix is going to take fifty years to implement.
And the game, with its techbro-screws-up-and-then-goes-mad villain, was released almost seven years ago, well before Elmo went straight around the bend, and the plot must have been written years before that, too. It’s almost like they knew the derangement was coming a decade in advance.
Betty Cracker
The fascist oligarch’s mom is a self-described “supermodel,” so I’m assuming the dad is a hideous old toad. Or maybe it’s just an accident of genetics that they produced such an unattractive child.
bjacques
Or getting older and that “Innsmouth look” becoming more obvious.
Anne Laurie
Lotsa ill-considered plastic surgery will do that to a man undergoing a top-ten mid-life crisis.
Or, as the old saying goes: Beauty is only skin-deep, but ugly goes right down to the bone.
Chief Oshkosh
Mommy Dearest whinging on about “intelligent people” and “dumb people” reminds me of the eternal question: Is it “intelligent” or is it “dumb” to buy a company for tens of billions of dollars in excess of its demonstrable value and then kill off its revenue streams, further toasting tens of billions of your own dollars?
Tricky. I always forget the correct answer to this one.
trnc
@Betty Cracker: Got up early to read this and was not disappointed!
@Anne Laurie: Yup!
Shalimar
@eclare: Wikipedia has pages for Elon’s siblings and mom but his dad’s page redirects to a page about the family. Given that Elon lived with dad after the divorce so you can’t even say she raised him, and Errol seems to be a notable person in his own right in South Africa whereas no one would know who Maye is if she didn’t talk about her son, that seems like an interesting choice. Especially given the controversy recently between Elon and Wikipedia’s owner.
Betty Cracker
On the topic of “self-driving” cars, Tesla isn’t the only party that’s misleading people. I forget which one, but a big U.S. automaker has an ad campaign featuring drivers removing their hands from the wheel to clap along to the opening of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” It’s irresponsible, IMO.
I think it’s entirely possible that removing humans from the equation and relying on fully self-driving cars will save lives someday. I hope that happens before I get too old to drive. But we aren’t there yet, and carmakers need to stop implying that we are.
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: The New York Times did a puff piece on Maye 7 years ago where they claimed she was a “finalist” in the Miss South Africa pageant in 1969. She was not the 1st or 2nd runner-up, and I couldn’t find information about other contestants.
edit: I assume she has a picture of herself in a sash with the other contestants that year and showed it to the writer. Maybe the picture showed her on stage in some small final group?
mrmoshpotato
Does Crayola make a Not Surprised crayon?
Anne Laurie
As a Boomer (who doesn’t drive), I am very much in favor of replacement transit for people who really aren’t safe behind the wheel any more. Given demographics, I’m sure Florida has as many local-news stories as Massachusetts along the lines of ‘Eighty-three-year old driver accidentally hits accelerator instead of brakes, takes out storefront, injuring / killing customers.’
Problem is, the people currently designing self-driving automobile systems are not interested in safer cars — they’re strongly invested in ‘Sure, *other* people can’t handle this kind of raw power, but I’m *different*.’
satby
@Anne Laurie: Exactly! Safety features were always resisted by manufacturers as extra expenses. But the majority of customers want to feel safer in their vehicles; who woulda thought?
eclare
@satby:
The issue here is speed. Memphis has a lot of flat, wide, and fairly straight roads. Seems like every other week or so someone is killed because some jackass was doing 80 (or much more) in a 40 or 45.
The news had some stats a while back comparing us vs the US for accidents, fatalities, etc, and we are far worse than average. It’s not even close.
satby
I didn’t (conciously) realize the House Republicans hadn’t approved the farm bill along with all the other stuff they’re not doing so that they can smear the Biden family 24/7. HCR has the details.
Professor Bigfoot
@eclare: In the UK cars have to undergo a yearly inspection from the Ministry of Transportation and if they fail they have to be repaired or scrapped.
In Germany people actually know how to drive (for example, to accelerate onto the freeway, to use the left lane only to pass, etc.)
Americans are simply *shitty drivers* pretty much across the board, driving rusty smoking clunkers.
But we’re free!
matt
what’s Cruella de Musk saying now?
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
@Anne Laurie:
Whatever it is, god damn, it’s not conventional ugliness. He looks like he’s melting.
satby
@eclare: Some of the difference in carnage is because Americans drive bigger, heavier cars with poorer front blind spots:
snoey
@satby: When Chrysler first prototyped the PT Cruiser it had lots of glass all around for good visibility. People said that the didn’t feel “safe” in it so Chrysler made the back windows smaller.
Betty Cracker
@Anne Laurie: Elderly people accidentally crashing cars through convenience stores, etc., is such a recurring theme in Florida that many years ago, one of the radio stations had a jingle they’d play before delivering news of the latest accident.
The opening stanza went like this:
One such incident that stands out in my mind involved an employee in a tollbooth informing an elderly driver that there was a pedestrian hanging out of his windshield.
Baud
Now they just need to recall Tesla’s owner.
Baud
@satby:
Don’t know why they can’t have front cameras like that do for rear cameras these days (which I love).
Subsole
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Horizon? Or the sequel?
Soprano2
@Anne Laurie: Every now and then my car yells at me to put my hands on the wheel even though my hands are already there!
This year here there have been a lot of motorcycle fatalities – more than normal. We also have pedestrian deaths on streets where you wouldn’t expect them – they’re places where a lot of unhoused people congregate. On part of the 4 lane bypass we drive on the way to the pub from our house you really have to keep your eyes peeled at night because there are always people walking, on bikes, or pushing/pulling carts on the side of the road.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Recall him into the Sun?
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2:
It took me a while to figure out that the way Hyundais try to detect that is whether you’re giving the steering wheel input. So it’ll jank the wheel around automatically to stay in lane, but you have to disagree with it a little to convince it you’re still there. It’s a weird game.
Yarrow
Elon’s mom’s timeline is something, that’s for sure.
satby
@Baud: Right? Seems like the camera should flip from rear view to front view when the car is first put into drive.
The thing in that article about a woman unable to see 12 (!!) kids lined up in front of her Escalade was horrifying. And that was under test conditions, so the car was stopped. They just kept having kids get into line until she finally saw #13.
Baud
@Yarrow:
The US president is anti-fascist.
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow:
Oh, please elaborate, mom.
MagdaInBlack
@Yarrow: My pooooor boy, everyone is against him!
satby
@snoey: I remembered liking the PT Cruiser prototype, and then not liking the production model. I like windows I can see lots of stuff through.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Good question. I recently drove a friend’s fancy Jag and was super impressed by all the cameras. Unlike my Jeep, which has one rear-facing camera, the Jag had multiple views on the screen when in reverse, including higher mounted cameras showing side views port and starboard to help you back out safely onto a street. But there were no forward facing cameras.
Ramalama
Back when I lived there for a wee bit, Boulder CO had a very good bus system and shite-tons of bike paths, but I saw a bicyclist get killed, by a car, in the University Hill area.
Two of my classes were in the evenings, and the buses didn’t go my routes when I needed to, so I walked my arse off one semester.
I kept thinking it would be such a good place to be an old person. I don’t know why it has to require that residents be mega rich trust fundees in order to have nice things. Atrios has been harping on such things since forever on his ugly sky-blue blog.
And the Motley Fool kept hyping Tesla as a great investment vehicle (haha) and I kept saying, to my computer screen, “NOT with Elmo!” I feel vindicated, though really I’d rather cool things happen.
/random thoughts.
Yarrow
@mrmoshpotato: They’re claiming “regulatory harassment” of him by the FCC.
NotMax
@Soprano2
The Dodge minivan which came crashing through the front of my store was driven by a high school kid.
No one injured although if it had happened 15 seconds earlier, where I happened to be standing then would have spelled finito.
This was before any big box stores on the island. Major quest to scrounge up sheets of plywood to nail over the windows and doorway late in the day on a Sunday.
Kay
Good piece on how media used Twitter. Ezra Klein has been harping on this for a while – he thinks Twitter wasn’t an accurate representation of the public and it became media people talking to other media people in an insular way that made media worse:
mrmoshpotato
@satby: Was the PT Cruiser prototype not as boxy as the production model?
Kay
@Yarrow:
They’re all such whiny baby-men. He’s supposedly “running” a car company. If he can’t handle dealing with the NHTSA then he can’t run a car company. They always demand special, coddling treatment.
It is lol funny that his MOM keeps running to his rescue. Perfect.
Kay
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow:
I see. *yawn* :)
Ramalama
@mrmoshpotato:
The Car Talk guys on NPR referred to the PT Cruiser a “Chuck magnet.” Rather than a chick magnet.
satby
@mrmoshpotato: Don’t really remember now… just that I liked the expansive windows. I liked the looks of the Pacer too. I was young.
eclare
@satby:
Ha! I remember the Pacer, a terrarium on wheels!
Yarrow
@eclare: Classic Pacer!
eclare
@Yarrow:
Hahaha!
SFAW
@Anne Laurie:
This pisses me off.
First of all, I am NOT eighty-three. Second, that storefront was really attractive, it almost looked like a drive-through. Third, if those shoppers were really concerned about their own safety, they would stay off the streets — or anywhere near the streets — in my town. Yet another lamestream media “report” that doesn’t tell the full story.
Oh, by the way, when I say “Get offa my lawn!”, it’s when I’m behind the wheel, taking aim.
Harumph!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Subsole: The first one, Horizon Zero Dawn. I’m still working through the second one.
NotMax
@SFAW
Plucked from the overstuffed bin of (pre-PC) yesteryear.
“Five points extra for a pregnant nun.”
//
NotMax
@Subsole
There was an early text computer game in which one could choose various levels of difficulty.
Choose “Impossible” and be greeted on the screen with “The sun will go supernova in ten seconds.”
Ken
I expect they didn’t download and read the whole PDF owner’s manual, where it says, very clearly in footnote 4 of page 387, not to do this. It even references the supplementary PDF that should be consulted to determine if a road is usable.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Some trucks do.
Kathleen
@Betty Cracker: I’ve seen her on old people makeup ads on TV. She is very attractive and I didn’t know she was his mom until recently. I think we’re the same age (she might be slightly younger).
Ken
This screams out for “finish the sentence” memes. “His goal is to make this world a better place by inserting chips into people’s brains,” or “by creating autonomous vehicles — that kill.”
“By moving himself and his buddies to Mars” would probably win any contest.
Soprano2
@Kay: I read the “In These Times” piece you linked yesterday; it was good. It’s too bad it’s on a niche Web site like that one, though.
Soprano2
@Kay: I think he actually believes he runs a tech company that just happens to make cars. That seems to be how he likes to think about it, that’s probably why he’s mad that the highway safety people are insisting on this – it’s not a car, it’s a tech platform, he whines!
As for the self-driving car thing, I’ve learned not to talk to the true believers about it. I mentioned to one I work with that I thought true self-driving cars were still a long ways off because it’s more complicated than they think, and I got a long lecture about how they’re almost ready and why are people so unbelieving. This was several years ago!
Kay
@Soprano2:
My middle son is building EV plants right now – he’s a electrician. He says the big car companies are bringing on electronics companies because they don’t have the expertise they need in the auto industry alone. I just think they leave ol momma’s boy Elon in the dust when they get ramped up because they are grownups. He runs his businesses on ego and puffery and arrogance. It just won’t work long term. You can’t know everything. You have to know what you don’t know.
Ken
Oh, you could have gotten that lecture any time in the last two decades. Not as venerable a claim as fusion, of course.
Kosh III
@eclare: “The issue here is speed. Memphis has a lot of flat, wide, and fairly straight roads. Seems like every other week or so someone is killed because some jackass was doing 80 (or much more) in a 40 or 45.”
Yep. That was one of several reasons we left Nashville this year to move 70 miles away to a rural(and red..sigh) area. In Nashville the few flat and straight streets and freeways we have are routinely driven well over the posted limit. Plus young punks in Camaro/Mustang/Challenger treat them as racetracks, zipping in and out at high speed. I got to the point that I hated to drive anywhere as I wasn’t sure I’d survive. And the city reaction? Give a billion or so to the Titans for a new playpen while letting the neighborhood infrastructures crumble.
Kent
It isn’t 100% clear from the news coverage whether this is a recall that requires owners to take in their cars to a Tesla shop, or if it is simply an over-the-air update.
Either way, if it requires some active involvement by the owner I suspect less than 5% of Tesla owners will even bother. I mean who goes to the dealer to wait in line just to get more warning beeps installed on your car? I sure as hell wouldn’t. Even if it is for a good reason socially.
NotMax
@Kent
OTA software update.
StringOnAStick
@NotMax: We have friends next door with a Tesla, which they plan to replace with the plug in Land Cruiser when it’s available; as two gay guys, they are done driving the Muskmobile but not because of only that. They say the build quality is crap and in order to keep the exact same features in all models and because they now build with a cheaper sensor set in front (!), the last software update downgraded the capability to use sensors for parking distance. They used to be able to pull into the garage and use the front sensors to park accurately by 6″ , now it’s off by 2-3′, so the water heater is under threat. The “cool tech” thrill fades when the software updates you have no ability to decline remove functionality that you previously relied on. That parking sensor change was the last straw.
Kristine
@satby: My ’02 Forester is one of the last of the “greenhouse” models—I like all the light and visibility. I feel closed-in when riding in the newer models. In Outbacks I feel like I”m riding in a box.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: He doesn’t take after her, lookswise.
Paul in KY
@Professor Bigfoot: To me, the biggest drop in driving quality (from late 70s till today) has been with large truck drivers. Used to be the best drivers and safest and generally most conscientious were 18 wheeler drivers (IMO). This from by observations driving highways of US since about 1978. Now, half of them are left lane hogging methheads, it seems (IMO).
Paul in KY
@Ramalama: I knew a dude (since deceased) that could own any vehicle on Earth & had a huge collection of them in 2 giant Morton buildings behind his mansion. When he got really old, he liked riding around in a PT Cruiser, cause it was easy to get in and out of (and I think he liked the retro styling).
Paul in KY
@Kosh III: Whenever I head thru Nashville on one of the interstates, I am overjoyed if I am in a situation where one can exceed the speed limit!
Hoodie
@Paul in KY: I’ve observed the same, but a lot of it may be because they’re under increasing time pressures thanks to our corporate overlords. The tractors are probably safer now than they were then, but trailer maintenance seems to have fallen off, e.g., highways seem to be littered with blown tire carcasses. I avoid spending much time next to or near these guys simply because you never know when they’ll have blowout and send debris all over the place. I had a chunk of metal from an exploded tire rim that went through my front grill and just missed taking out the radiator. The roads are also taking a beating from truck traffic. I recently was on I-40 in NM and AZ, it was a mess.
Uncle Cosmo
Concur, by Crackey :^p, we ain’t there yet (& we ain’t getting there before I have to turn in my license due to reflex decrapitude in 10 years or so). But I suspect that we could get partway there by implementing “autodrive” on expressways, which are already limited access, requiring any vehicle using them to have a functioning and functional autodrive unit, and directing those units from a central unit whose commands are limited to that roadway. Among other things it would bid fair to very quickly reduce the time spent in backups, inasmuch as most traffic jams are caused by individual drivers making bonehead, selfish or actively aggressive moves that slow everyone down, and the CTU (central traffic unit) would adjust speed and lane changing for optimal use. I think drivers who endure the most gridlocked limited-access roads would very quickly see the improvement in travel time and become enthusiasts. Moreover, I believe autodrive on long stretches could reduce to zero high-speed accidents caused by driver fatigue or distraction, especially in darkness or inclement weather.
NB I have no data to support this claim, but here’s an anecdote from nearly half a century ago:
Once expressway drivers appreciate the advantages to autodrive, it would promote going to the next level of detail, though on-grade access and a target-rich environment (of pedestrians and bikes) would make this an odor of magnitude ;^) more difficult. But even the expressway limitation will be no easy lift – the CTUs and the individual auto units will need to be effectively failsafe and invulnerable to terrorist-style hacking that could take out a 911-size chunk of riders in a few minutes of utter mayhem…
theturtlemoves
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Replaying that myself in anticipation of the PC release of Forbidden West next year, hopefully early. Love Zero Dawn but am a PC gamer so I’ve had to wait a LONG time for the sequel.
Kosh III
I remember that jusr before the Bush Recession of ’08, GM was developing a pilot project(at Stanford U?) where roads had an embedded fiber optic cable(or something) and the vehicles were simple boxes with seats. A central computer would control every vehicle. No speeding, no slow pokes, no accidents.
Kosh III
@Paul in KY: “I am overjoyed if I am in a situation where one can exceed the speed limit!”
And there is the problem.
scav
Ah Mama Maye. Producing inferior product that isn’t roadworthy and then defending it is a family tradition.
Torrey
An intelligent person wouldn’t go around announcing that fact.
Kent
@NotMax: In that case there is no “recall” at all, it is simply a regularly scheduled update.
When our iPhones update from iOS version 17.1 to 17.2 we don’t say that our phones were “recalled”
Ramalama
@Paul in KY: I rented a car once in LA and chose the cheapest possible option but I think they ran out so they had to bump me up in the next available car class, so I got to drive a purple PT Cruiser. The line of renters was long so no one behind the desk explained it to me. Just gave me the key and said go to spot Eleventy-Niney-Blue and sent me to the lot & there it was in my spot. I kept thinking it was a mistake, but when I called my travel agent relative, she said they had to give you a car even though they ran out of the cheapos.
I enjoyed driving it!
Ramalama
@Paul in KY:
Also, Morton buildings? Is that a fancy term for ‘car storage’?
Janee
Nanny government bad, but nanny Elon good? If I pay extra for something, or just pay for standard equipment, I expect to be able to use it. Three strikes and they take it away? Do they issue a refund? Depending on how this is done, they may get hit with lawsuits over this. A driver assistance feature that cannot cope with a human driver sounds closer to fraud.
Paul in KY
@Hoodie: Man! You are lucky to have escaped with the damage you did from the blowout. Is probably what you said. Also they all have governors now on the engines, so it takes them 2 minutes to pass another 18 wheeler. Grrrr!!
Paul in KY
@Kosh III: Was commenting on terrible traffic I usually run into in Nashville metro area.
Tony G
As anyone who has worked in I.T. for longer than a few weeks knows, the biggest risk of bugs occurs right after a software upgrade. May the invisible sky-daddy have mercy on the people who were dumb enough to buy Teslas.
Tony G
@Ken: Given Elon’s long history of fraud and incompetence in every single thing that he’s done, I feel like anyone who buys a Tesla and then attempts to use it in “Autopilot” mode is just asking to be presented with a Darwin Award.
Tehanu
Fredo, is that you?