Tesla Accident: Drunk Driving vs. FSD

The driver was intoxicated, lost control of the vehicle, and was arrested after attempting to flee the accident scene.

Tragically, a passenger died in the accident.

X Community Notes clearly pointed out the problems with the media reporting, clarifying that the actual cause of the incident was the driver's drunk driving and charges of vehicular manslaughter.

The driver stated that they had several drinks the night before and did not even remember driving on 42nd Street at the time of the accident. Police denied any connection between the accident and Autopilot or FSD.

He believes that the financial interests of the media influence their reporting.

Musk cited a past Model 3 accident in Texas, stating that the media also blamed Tesla at the time, but Tesla's Head of AI proved driver error through driving records.

He presented 43 videos of accidents caused by driver inattention while using FSD as evidence.

The Congressman officially requested written answers to five questions by September 30.

Tesla's FSD software, distributed in September of last year, sends a warning message 'Drowsiness detected, focus with FSD' if the driver is detected as drowsy. However, the Congressman argued that if the vehicle determines the driver's observational ability is diminished, FSD should not be recommended at that moment.

He also raised the need to deactivate FSD when driver concentration decreases and demanded an audit of how Tesla passed Cybertruck certification.

The Congressman asked about safeguards to prevent FSD misuse and what the authorities would consider a defect requiring a recall if discovered.

The use of the word 'recall' is interpreted as pressure on Tesla, but it was not a demand for immediate cessation of use.

Currently, both the Department of Transportation and Tesla seem to have little intention of taking a firm stance.

Therefore, it is analyzed that significant changes are unlikely to occur by September 30.

Drivers frequently fall asleep while using FSD. This is interpreted as FSD performing driving stably, which lowers driver tension and creates an environment conducive to drowsiness.

Tesla explicitly states that FSD is a supervised system, emphasizing that the driver is responsible for supervising the system and for driving during operation.

It has been observed that drivers bypass FSD's driver monitoring system by wearing sunglasses or covering the interior camera with clips. FSD is indeed circumvented from its ability to warn drivers through these methods.

Furthermore, if driver drowsiness is detected, a logical conflict arises whether FSD should continue driving or if the vehicle should safely stop. If AI has identified the driver's condition but still encourages continued driving, it could lead to safety issues.

In December 2023, Tesla implemented a software update that strengthened driver warnings and verification procedures. However, even after this update, approximately 20 FSD-related crash incidents were reported.

This indicates that software updates alone have limitations in solving the problem, and fundamental solutions beyond technical constraints are required.

The ultimate way to solve these problems is to advance FSD's technological level to a point where human supervision is no longer necessary. Elon Musk mentioned that FSD Version 15 will drive much more safely than humans even in complex situations.

In fact, an early version of FSD v15 is already being used in robotaxis.

This means that the problems caused by the current supervised system can only be resolved when FSD evolves to a level where it can operate safely without human intervention.