Now your Tesla can come pick you up. California says that’s not ‘driverless’
Now your
Tesla can come pick you up. California says that’s not ‘driverless’
RUSS MITCHELL 4, 2019 6 AM
Tesla unleashed the latest twist in driverless car
technology last week, raising more questions about whether autonomous vehicles
are outracing public officials and safety regulators.
The Palo Alto electric car company on Sept. 26 beamed a
software feature called Smart Summon to
Tesla owners who prepaid for it. Using a smartphone, a person can now command a
Tesla to turn itself on, back out of its parking space and drive to the
smartphone holder’s location — say, at the curb in front of a Costco store.
The car relies on onboard sensors and computers to help
it move forward, back up, steer, accelerate and decelerate on its own, braking
if it detects people, other vehicles or stationary objects in its path. The “driver”
must keep a finger or thumb on the smartphone screen or the car will stop.
Tesla recommends the feature for parking lots, and the
technology’s range — 200 feet — limits its applications. But in theory, a car
can be summoned anywhere — to drive down a public street, for instance. Sure
enough, videos quickly sprouted of Tesla owners doing just that, and more.
Is
it legal? Yes, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. And
even though the state has safety requirements that
must be met before companies can deploy driverless cars, Tesla’s latest service
doesn’t need a permit.
That’s because the DMV determined that the combination
of Smart Summon and the cars’ robot systems doesn’t count as “autonomous
technology.” The department’s rationale is the car is “under the control” of
the person holding the smartphone.
The new director of the DMV, Steve Gordon — a longtime
Silicon Valley executive — declined to be interviewed for this story.
Some safety officials, however, worry that Smart Summon
hasn’t been thoroughly tested and may be marketed in ways that confuse users.
The National Safety Council, a nonprofit health and safety advocacy
group, has expressed
concern about the rush to deploy full driverless technology by Tesla
and other companies.
Kelly Nantel, an NSC vice president, issued a statement
on Smart Summon:
“In introducing any new advanced safety feature, it is
important for manufacturers to ensure that the feature is extensively tested
and mature, and that the role of the driver in controlling the vehicle is
crystal clear. Failing in either of these responsibilities risks creating
confusion that can put road users at risk and reduce public trust in the
potential of automated vehicles.”
Meanwhile, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration is aware of Smart Summon and is in contact with Tesla.
The agency said in an email it “will not hesitate to act” if it finds evidence
of a safety-related defect.
A week after Smart Summon was issued, no injuries
involving the technology have been reported, and no government has barred its
use.
State laws on driverless cars vary dramatically. States
such as Florida, Michigan and Arizona are more permissive than California, and
some states have no driverless car laws at all.
In California, the only company that holds a permit for
testing autonomous cars without a human inside is Waymo, the driverless car
offshoot of Google. Permits have been granted to 63 companies, including Tesla,
to test autonomous cars with a human on board.
Smart
Summon works over Wi-Fi and cellphone networks through Tesla’s smartphone app,
which also provides remote locking, unlocking and other features. Although
Smart Summon’s range is limited to 200 feet, Tesla on its website promises to
add traffic-light and stop-sign recognition and automatic driving on city
streets by Dec. 31, but it hasn’t offered further details. Tesla did not
respond to requests for comment.
In its marketing materials, Tesla says that with Smart
Summon, “Your parked car will come find you anywhere in a parking lot. Really.”
In smaller print, the company says, “The currently enabled features require
active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”
When Tesla owners download the software, they get a “what’s
new” message on their infotainment screen telling them they must remain
responsible for the car and monitor it at all times.
Minutes after Smart Summon’s release, user videos began
appearing on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Many focus on the wow factor, showing dogs, kids and even a Halloween skeleton behind
the wheel of the moving car. Some demonstrate the technology’s
limitations or near
collisions, others show users blatantly ignoring Tesla’s warnings.
Several videos show Smart Summon driving cars on public roads. Users are supposed to have the vehicle always
within view, but at least in some cases, the feature appears to work whether
they can see the car or not.
One user posted a video of himself playing catch-me-if-you-can by running away from a Tesla
in a parking lot, while the car struggles to keep up. Another video shows a
user testing the technology by directing his daughter and
her dog to walk in front of an oncoming Tesla, apparently to see if it
would stop. (It did.)
The novelty of a car driving by itself was made clear
in a video that shows a man in a parking lot running toward a Tesla’s passenger
door, apparently believing it was a runaway vehicle. “Nobody’s
inside,” the man says. The smartphone holder fills him in on the
situation.
Teslas
already came equipped with Autopilot, a driver-assist feature that enables the
car to steer itself and pass other vehicles on highways. For years Autopilot
has drawn fire from critics who point to videos of people sleeping, eating or
reading. Tesla tells drivers to pay attention and keep their hands on the
wheel, but CEO Elon Musk himself has been shown on YouTube and national
television driving on Autopilot with his hands raised.
A car that drives without someone behind the wheel
raises questions of legal liability. In some accidents involving Tesla’s
Autopilot, the company has blamed drivers, saying they didn’t follow
instructions in the manual. Several lawsuits have been filed against Tesla over the Autopilot feature.
Insurance coverage may be an issue. If a Tesla in Smart
Summon mode hits another car, or injures a pedestrian, will the driver’s
insurance policy cover the costs? The Times put that question to Geico,
Farmers, Nationwide, Progressive, Hartford, Allstate, SafeAuto and Travelers.
Only Travelers responded, saying it had no comment.
Asked to explain Smart Summon’s treatment under
California’s driverless car rules, DMV spokesman Marty Greenfield quoted state
regulations that govern “autonomous technology” that define it as “technology
that has the capability to drive a vehicle without the active physical control
or monitoring by a human operator.” Because Smart Summon is controlled by a
smartphone, he said, it doesn’t count as autonomous.
But that very aspect, the need for a remote controller,
raises concerns about reliability for one technical expert working for the
insurance industry.
“One must suspect that the system is not reliably safe
or the need for human supervision wouldn’t be necessary,” David Zuby, head of
vehicle research for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said about
Smart Summon.
“The implied unreliability is the ‘troubling’ aspect of
this feature because there’s already evidence that some people will not monitor
the vehicle’s progress,” he said. “If it needs supervision, then it’s
irresponsible to give the drivers the opportunity to be remote from the vehicle
when it’s moving.”
Tesla
may have more incentive to deploy autonomous features than other companies.
It’s unprofitable and has been surviving for 16 years on new rounds of investor
cash. Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., has plenty of
cash and can afford to take its time. Major automakers aren’t as flush, but
they are profitable with tremendous cash flow that allows for some patience
too.
Public officials, meanwhile, may be left playing
catch-up.
“The law is flexible, and a lot of this comes down to
how does government feel about these technologies, and equally important, how
does government feel about the company behind them,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of
South Carolina and one of the world’s leading experts on driverless vehicle
law.
“If they’re not receptive, any regulator can find
language they could use to shut this down,” he said. “If they are receptive,
then at least until there’s a crash [companies] will have a lot of flexibility
in terms of what they’re able to do.”
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