Ed Markey Asks Expert If Tesla Drivers Are Misled To Think They Can Push Autopilot And ‘Go To Sleep’

3 months ago

During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) questioned witnesses about roadway safety and autonomous vehicle safety.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you Mr. Chairman very much. We've heard a lot today about how technology can potentially

00:05 make cars safer, but we don't just need safe cars, we need safe streets not only for drivers,

00:11 but for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit riders. These road users are particularly

00:19 vulnerable. Just look at the numbers. In 1994, 21 percent of people killed in motor vehicle

00:25 accidents were outside the vehicle. 21 percent. In 2022, that number rose to 36 percent of those

00:34 killed were outside the vehicle. Pedestrian death tolls tell a similar story. In 2011,

00:42 4,400 pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles. In 2022, that number was 7,500 people.

00:50 And that's why I introduced my Complete Streets Act. The bill mandates that all new construction

00:56 along dangerous roads must include complete streets elements like bicycle and pedestrian

01:03 paths. Mr. Krasenstein, Detroit works hard to include complete street design elements in its

01:10 road structure. Do you agree that we must prioritize complete streets at the federal

01:17 level in order to make our roads safer? Thank you, Senator, for your question,

01:22 for your support on road safety and complete streets. Absolutely. I think that for any street

01:28 design, having a context-appropriate complete street is critically important. That doesn't

01:33 necessarily mean that the right solution is to put bike lanes on every single street,

01:37 but to have the types of solutions that are appropriate for the road. So that could be

01:41 looking at things to slow down traffic, to allow pedestrians to cross safer. It could be using bike

01:46 lanes in order to do traffic calming measures, or it could just be like having painted crosswalks

01:52 so that pedestrians can safely cross the street. I think there's a variety of types of counter

01:56 measures that can be used, but anything we can do to support the complete streets and safer streets

02:01 types actions on any new street, especially streets that receive federal funding, I think

02:07 is extremely valuable. Excellent. Now I would like to pivot to another important topic,

02:12 autonomous vehicle safety. Automakers are increasingly including new software in vehicles

02:18 that can assist drivers with accelerating, braking, and turning. Yet these driver assistance

02:24 features are only designed for use under certain road conditions and with an alert driver behind

02:31 the wheel. These features are especially dangerous when automakers give them misleading names that

02:37 lull drivers into a false sense of security. The worst offender is, of course, Tesla,

02:43 which has created an autopilot mode that at best should be called semi-pilot. Mr. Farah,

02:52 in your view, do Tesla drivers generally understand that autopilot mode can only be

02:58 operated on certain roads and requires active driver engagement, or do they get misled into

03:05 thinking they can just push the button and they can go to sleep? Senator, thank you very much for

03:10 the question. As I mentioned in my opening statement, as well as my written statement,

03:14 I think that it's imperative that we distinguish between driver assist vehicles versus actual

03:20 autonomous vehicles that are operating at level four. In the latter, the human, insofar as there's

03:24 a human in the vehicle, has no responsibility for the dynamic driving task. When you do have a

03:29 driver assist feature, it is absolutely imperative that the driver understands what their obligations

03:33 are. They need to be prepared to be able to take over at a moment's notice. Many people have had

03:38 confusion that has led to a number of situations and certainly appreciate the spirit of what you're

03:42 getting at. Thank you. So that's why I've urged both the National Highway Traffic Safety

03:47 Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Tesla's misleading autopilot system

03:53 and have directly demanded Tesla to stop using this dangerous branding. And I'd also like to

04:00 discuss a critical safety issue with driver assistance features like Tesla's autopilot

04:06 and full autonomous vehicles. These systems can only be safely operated under certain conditions

04:12 and in certain locations, such as highways in sunny weather. In the autonomous vehicle industry,

04:17 these conditions are known as the operational design domain, which identifies where and under

04:24 what conditions a driving assistance feature like Tesla's autopilot or a true autonomous vehicle can

04:31 safely operate. By contrast, these automated features or autonomous vehicles are specifically

04:38 not designed to be operated in other road conditions such as dangerous winding roads

04:44 with cross traffic. So again, Mr. Farah, you represent many manufacturers who are testing

04:51 full autonomous vehicles. Can you can those vehicles operate outside their operational

04:57 driving domain? Senator Markey, again, thank you for the question. The state of the industry,

05:02 the state of the technology right now is that our members are operating at level four. That does

05:06 mean, as you said, that they are confined to an operational design domain. That is a set of safety

05:14 limitations that are put on the vehicle, whether geographic or weather that you mentioned. Right

05:19 now, those vehicles remain within the ODD. The ODD can be something like the city of San Francisco

05:24 or the city of Phoenix and Scottsdale. It could be a stretch of highway for things like autonomous

05:30 trucking. And that's where we are from a technology perspective. And we'll make sure that we

05:33 continue to roll out the technology deliberately and safely. Thank you. And should autonomous

05:37 vehicles or vehicles with driver assistance features engaged be able to operate outside

05:43 their operational design domain, Mr. Farah? I cannot speak to the driver assistance features

05:49 in terms of what it is. The state of the technology is there. I can only speak to level four technology

05:54 where our members are now. Well, again, my view is that there's absolutely no reason that driving

05:59 features like Tesla's autopilot of full autonomous vehicles should be operating outside of their

06:05 operational design domain. Thank you for this hearing, Mr. Chairman. And thank all the witnesses

06:12 for their expert testimony.

Ed Markey Asks Expert If Tesla Drivers Are Misled To Think They Can Push Autopilot And ‘Go To Sleep’

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