Tesla’s self-driving technology fails to detect children in the road, tests find

theguardian.com:

A safe-technology advocacy group issued claimed on Tuesday that Tesla’s full self-driving software represents a potentially lethal threat to child pedestrians, the latest in a series of claims and investigations into the technology to hit the world’s leading electric carmaker.

According to a safety test conducted by the Dawn Project, the latest version of Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software repeatedly hit a stationary, child-sized mannequin in its path. The claims that the technology apparently has trouble recognizing children form part of an ad campaign urging the public to pressure Congress to ban Tesla’s auto-driving technology.

In several tests, a professional test driver found that the software – released in June – failed to detect the child-sized figure at an average speed of 25mph and the car then hit the mannequin. The Dawn Project’s founder, Dan O’Dowd, called theresults “deeply disturbing.”

Company chief “Elon Musk says Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software is ‘amazing,’” O’Dowd added. “It’s not. It’s a lethal threat to all Americans.

“Over 100,000 Tesla drivers are already using the car’s Full Self-Driving mode on public roads, putting children at great risk in communities across the country.”

O’Dowd argued that the test results show the need to prohibit self-driving cars until Tesla proves the vehicles “will not mow down children in crosswalks”.

Tesla has repeatedly hit back at claims that its self-driving technology is too underdeveloped to guarantee the safety of either the car’s occupants or other road users.

O’Dowd has drawn accusations that he is little more than a competitor to Tesla because his company bills itself as an expert in making particular software used in automated driving systems. O’Dowd