. 24/7 Space News .
CAR TECH
US closes probe into fatal Tesla autopilot crash, no defect found
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jan 19, 2017


New Zealand stimulates electric vehicle market
Wellington, New Zealand (UPI) Jan 19, 2017 - New Zealand's government said Thursday it was setting aside more than $2 million to help stimulate the electric-vehicle market in the country.

Energy and Resources Minister Judith Collins said more than a dozen projects will be targeted with a $2.5 million fund to incentivize the electric vehicle market.

"The funding will provide up to 50 percent funding for projects that will demonstrate and showcase low emission vehicle technologies in high-profile, visible ways that will help to normalize these technologies, and that can be implemented relatively quickly," she said in a statement.

New Zealand was among the most recent movers on the incentive front, forming a special counsel tasked with accelerating the deployment of electric vehicles on the road last year.

Collins said the funding is part of an effort to put 64,000 electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads by 2021. A measure included the Paris climate declaration, meanwhile, calls for 100 million electric vehicles on the market by 2030 in an effort to curb pollution levels.

"They will reduce the emissions that come from the country's vehicle fleet," she said. "An electric vehicle in New Zealand produces 80 percent fewer carbon emissions than a petrol or diesel powered vehicle."

The International Energy Agency found substantial gains in the sale and construction of the infrastructure needed to support a broader network of electric vehicles worldwide.

New Zealand's stimulus follows the forming of a multi-sector consortium of automakers and energy companies tasked with advancing hydrogen as a clean fuel choice. Fuel cell vehicles are limited in availability and depend in part on access to refueling stations for hydrogen.

The council collectively aims to invest nearly $11 billion during the next five years in hydrogen-related energy products.

The US Transportation Department closed Thursday its investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla car on autopilot, saying no defects were found in the system, including the emergency braking feature.

No "safety-related defect" was identified in May's crash on a Florida highway, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Bryan Thomas told reporters.

"The investigation is closed," he said.

The NHTSA also looked at dozens of other non-fatal crashes that happened when the Autopilot feature was in use in Teslas, including the Model S involved in the fatal crash, Thomas told reporters in a conference call.

While no defect is apparent in the overall system or the Automatic Emergency Braking feature, and no further investigation is needed for now, "the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that no safety-related defect exists," he said.

"The agency will monitor the issue and reserves the right to take future action if warranted by the circumstances."

Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the NHTSA finding was announced, calling the final report "very positive."

Thomas said the investigation indicated the fatal Florida crash, in which a Tesla was hit by a truck crossing a highway, involved "a number of human factor issues," including use of the automatic system beyond its design.

- Distracted drivers -

Those issues likely will have implications for how major automakers, including Mercedes and BMW, design the next generation of autonomous driving features, to limit driver misuse, including distracted driving, as much as possible.

And Thomas questioned the marketing of the technology as an "autopilot" feature, which could contribute to drivers overestimating the car's capability.

These features "require the continual and full attention of the driver" so that they are "prepared to take action to avoid crashes."

New technology "must be designed with the inattentive driver in mind" to ensure safety, he said. The agency "will aggressively oversee new technology" put on the road and continue to investigate during this rapid period of innovation.

The investigation found that in the fatal crash in Florida, the driver would have had seven seconds to react when the tractor trailer crossed the highway. The impact sheared off the top of the car, killing the driver.

That was enough time "to take some action" but it is impossible to know if he could have avoided the accident entirely, Thomas said.

The car was traveling at 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour ahead of impact in an area where the posted speed limit was 65 miles per hour, NHTSA found.

Some reports said the driver may have been watching a DVD at the time, ignoring Tesla's warning to remain vigilant while using the Autopilot system.

Thomas noted the software update Tesla rolled out in September that included revised driver monitoring, including a "strike out" feature to shut off the system for the remainder of the drive after an "extended period of driver disengagement."

The system allows the vehicle to automatically change lanes, manage speed and brake to avoid a collision. The system may be overridden by the driver.

Tesla acknowledged after the Florida crash that its sensors failed to pick up the white side of the truck against a brightly lit sky.

Backers of autonomous driving say that despite the Tesla fatality, the technology is likely to eliminate a large percentage of accidents, which are attributed mainly to human error.

Most major automakers are aiming to produce autonomous cars in the next five years, including BMW, South Korea's Kia, Germany's Volkswagen and General Motors, which plans to test the technology with ridesharing company Lyft.

In addition, Google has driven its autonomous cars some 1.5 million miles with only some minor dustups.


Comment on this article using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Car Technology at SpaceMart.com






Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
CAR TECH
VW ex-boss denies prior knowledge of pollution cheating
Berlin (AFP) Jan 19, 2017
Former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn said Thursday that he did not know the beleaguered German auto giant was engaging in systematic emissions cheating until shortly before the scam broke. Winterkorn told a parliamentary committee into the "dieselgate" scandal that "total clarity was and is the order of the day", and that he was still trying to understand how the scandal could have happe ... read more


CAR TECH
French, US astronauts install batteries outside space station

'Hidden Figures' soars in second week atop box office

Russian Astronauts to Hold Terminator Experiment in Space

The dust never settles on the Space Station

CAR TECH
Ruptured oxidant tank likely cause of Progress accident

Next Cygnus Mission to Station Set for March

Japan aborts mini-rocket mission shortly after liftoff

SpaceX launches, lands rocket for first time since Sept blast

CAR TECH
Opportunity Continues Its Journey South Along Crater Rim

New Year yields interesting bright soil for Opportunity rover

HI-SEAS Mission V crew preparing to enter Mars simulation habitat

Hues in a Crater Slope

CAR TECH
China's first cargo spacecraft to leave factory

China launches commercial rocket mission Kuaizhou-1A

China Space Plan to Develop "Strength and Size"

Beijing's space program soars in 2016

CAR TECH
Iridium-1 NEXT Launched on a Falcon 9

Russia-China Joint Space Studies Center May Be Created in Southeastern Russia

EchoStar 19 positioned in orbital slot

OneWeb announces key funding from SoftBank Group and other investors

CAR TECH
Glass's off-kilter harmonies

ChemChina 'to file for anti-trust approval in US' for takeover

Breaking the optical bandwidth record of stable pulsed lasers

A toolkit for transformable materials

CAR TECH
Looking for life in all the right places with the right tool

Could dark streaks in Venusian clouds be microbial life

VLT to Search for Planets in Alpha Centauri System

Hubble detects 'exocomets' taking the plunge into a young star

CAR TECH
Lowell Observatory to renovate Pluto discovery telescope

Flying observatory makes observations of Jupiter previously only possible from space

How a moon slows the decay of Pluto's atmosphere

York U research identifies icy ridges on Pluto









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.