US to probe Texas fatal crash that may have involved Ford partially automated driving system

[Pioneer74]

Detroit – The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a fatal crash in San Antonio, Texas, involving a Ford electric vehicle that may have been using a partially automated driving system.

The agency said in a statement Friday that a team of investigators from its Office of Highway Safety will travel to Texas and work with police on the Feb. 24 crash on Interstate 10.

The NTSB said that preliminary information shows a Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV equipped with the company's partially automated driving system collided with the rear of a Honda CR-V that was stopped in one of the highway lanes.

Television station KSAT reported that the Mach-E driver told police the Honda was stopped in the middle lane with no lights on before the crash around 9:50 p.m. The 56-year-old driver of the CR-V was killed.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/b...sh-ford-automated-driving-system/72999511007/

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[GreaseMonkey]

There was a dude here who posted an accident he was involved with that sounds very similar. He was asking whether his Mach-e was totaled or not. Wonder if it’s related.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Wonder if that was this incident: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/front-end-damage.34260/

 

[AliRafiee]

Considering the fact that San Antonio is as flat as a pancake, the car should have detected to stopped car a lot sooner. ?

 

[DugthePug Dad]

Wonder if that was this incident: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/front-end-damage.34260/

That’s the first thought I had too…

 

[Mach-Lee]

Considering the fact that San Antonio is as flat as a pancake, the car should have detected to stopped car a lot sooner. ?

BlueCruise is not capable of detecting a stopped vehicle in time at 70 mph. That is a limitation of cruise control radar as explained in the manual. Stationary targets look like the ground until they are very close to the radar. The car will only stop in time if it’s going less than about 30 mph while approaching a stationary target.

This happened at night, so the camera isn’t going to detect a vehicle without lights on either. The only technology that could detect this scenario in time to completely stop is LiDAR, which the Mach-E doesn’t have.

 

[Hammered]

Now we know why the MME was impounded.

Don't stop in the lanes of travel on highways/interstates. Easily one of the dumbest games you can play, winning the ultimate of prizes.

 

[New2EV]

That's not the MME's fault. This seems like the CRV driver either had a severe medical issue ....or wanted something bad to happen to him. Stopped in the middle lane at night with no lights would be hard for a human to avoid. It's a credit to the MME's safety if the MME's driver walked away

 

[Keeperofthe7keys]

Considering all the warnings of limitations, how fast it is to yell at you for looking away from the road, (unlike Tesla advertising "full self-driving"), and the circumstances at play here, car stopped no lights, middle of the highway in the dark, I doubt the investigation will find any particular fault beyond a recommendation that LIDAR is a better technology.

The original poster also self-professed to not seeing the car before it was too late to react either, which is than either admitted to being careless as the system alerts you to pay attention, or honestly stating that as a human driver, they did not detect the car and the collision would have occurred without bluecruise anyways.

 

[jay1122]

That would be crazy if you hit and kill some one. Then casually goes on a forum and ask, is my car repairable.

 

[AhardFSU]

Considering all the warnings of limitations, how fast it is to yell at you for looking away from the road, (unlike Tesla advertising "full self-driving"), and the circumstances at play here, car stopped no lights, middle of the highway in the dark, I doubt the investigation will find any particular fault beyond a recommendation that LIDAR is a better technology.

The original poster also self-professed to not seeing the car before it was too late to react either, which is than either admitted to being careless as the system alerts you to pay attention, or honestly stating that as a human driver, they did not detect the car and the collision would have occurred without bluecruise anyways.

Even if Bluecruise wasn't being used, it's very hard to see something in the dark that has no lights until you really close up on the object. At the point you'd be hard pressed not to hit the object with doing some sort of diversion into another lane, which may cause an accident.

 

[ChehRob]

If my car stopped on a freeway with no lights available, I would assume I likely could be dead in the next new minutes.

 

[electric-in-the-desert]

That would be crazy if you hit and kill some one. Then casually goes on a forum and ask, is my car repairable.

Truly incredible. And to just plainly admit you don’t know the limitations of a system that was involved in someone’s death.

And I thought this forum was getting wild after the guy talked about his sex life in the same sentence as he complains about the car. The internet is a wild place.

 

[Keeperofthe7keys]

And I thought this forum was getting wild after the guy talked about his sex life in the same sentence as he complains about the car. The internet is a wild place.

I can't say I wish I didn't miss this point, what is wrong with people.

 

[Just Lurking]

Sad story. I re-read that "front-end damage" thread and the possibility of this being the same incident brings new meaning to the OP in that thread stating "state law requires an investigation." Yeah, when there's a fatality I would certainly hope so. :/

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