A truck driver on the Yankee Expressway has been killed by Tesla, according to police.
Initial reports indicate that software is unpredictably launching Teslas like missiles across lanes into other vehicles traveling in the same direction.
Recently I reported Tesla’s latest software version — 11.3.4 — seems dangerously unfit for general use.
It is very clear from video evidence that Tesla software now abruptly and without warning sends their cars rapidly off course, despite a straight road and straight navigation path.
A driver has less than a second to grab and turn the wheel to prevent collision with a truck, as explained in that blog post.
This new fatality case has very similar symptoms, but instead of cutting in front of opposing traffic it’s swerving like a drunk into vehicles on same path. And I have to say I just personally experienced this; a Tesla abruptly jumped left across two lanes, nearly crashing into the car I was riding in.
My human driver slammed on the brakes, to prevent a Tesla suddenly accelerating in the same direction as us from hitting our right side.
I mention it here mostly because the Tesla driver cutting left into us had a face of absolute terror. Her hands were in the air, her head twisted back and she stared open mouth at us with eyes wide like she was being abducted.
Back to this new case, police are asking for help understanding how and why Tesla killed the truck driver.
According to the accident summary, Vallier was traveling east on I-84 in the right lane of three, not far from Exit 30.
Meanwhile, a 2023 Model 3 Tesla being driven by a 47-year-old Fairfield woman was traveling east on I-84 in the left lane of three lanes, police said.
[…]
“For an unknown reason,” according to police, the Tesla veered across the center lane and into the right lane, where it collided with the Ford pickup.
As a result of the collision, Vallier lost control of the Ford F250 and crossed the center lane into the left lane and, then, onto the grassy median, where it began to roll over, police said.
Unknown reason? That indicates the police know it wasn’t the usual causes of lateral collision (e.g. blown tire), and they’re investigating things like quality of software engineering. How many police departments are poised for code review?
From my own analysis of emergent flaws in the latest Tesla software release, to personally witnessing resulting erratic behavior… the probability seems very high that software quality of this company is getting significantly worse over time, after their hardware was made less capable (e.g. radar removed).
That being said, Tesla is becoming a clear and present danger to public safety, as I have warned here since 2016.