Tesla is "challenging the bottom line of safety" with the design of Autopilot, a driving assistance system, and Mobileye therefore decided to terminate the partnership between the two.
Last Wednesday, Amnon Shashua, chairman and chief technology officer of Mobileye, an Israeli collision detection and driving assistance system supplier that has achieved mutual success with Tesla, made the above statement in an interview with Reuters. “It is not designed to handle all possible collision situations in a safe manner. ”
“No matter how much you brag about it, (Autopilot) is not designed for that situation. It's just a driver assistance system, not a driverless system," Shashua said.
In May of this year, a fatal accident caused by a Tesla Model S driver using the Autopilot function thrust this new technology into the public spotlight. This feature helps drivers stay in their lane and drive at high speeds. After the accident, Tesla published a blog post stating that "Neither Autopilot nor the driver could identify the white edge of the truck trailer in the bright sky, and therefore the brakes failed to intervene." ”
A Tesla spokesperson emphasized on Wednesday that the company has never described Autopilot as driverless technology or self-driving technology.
"Since the launch of Autopilot, we have been educating our customers about using this feature, reminding them to keep their hands on the steering wheel and remain alert when using Autopilot," the spokesperson said. “Drivers should always be ready to take control of their vehicle. ”
However, drivers using Autopilot can occasionally take their hands off the wheel for a few minutes at highway speeds. After the system was released last fall, the number of YouTube videos showing Tesla drivers operating their vehicles without their hands surged, prompting Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk to express concern about drivers' "crazy practices." In January of this year, Tesla claimed that it was improving this system.
On Sunday, Tesla said it would upgrade its Autopilot system to make it harder for drivers to ignore reminders to keep their hands on the steering wheel, as well as other updates that Musk said could have prevented May's fatal crash. Musk believes that as drivers become more familiar with the system, they tend to ignore the audible prompts to regain control of the steering wheel. The updated system will still allow drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel for up to three minutes at high speeds.
Shashua's comments have created an unusual public divide in the industry. In the past, suppliers and automakers rarely denigrated each other publicly. In June, as soon as the fatal accident was disclosed, Mobileye announced the termination of cooperation with Tesla. Tesla stated in a subsequent statement that Mobileye could not keep up with Tesla's product iterations.
"It was inevitable that we would part ways," Musk said at a press conference in late June.
Mobileye expressed reservations about the various information Tesla has provided about Autopilot, especially after observing the Silicon Valley electric car company's response to the fatal crash in Florida. Although the driver is reminded to keep his hands on the steering wheel, it exaggerates the system's capabilities.
"In the long run, this will hurt the interests of the company, and it will also hurt the interests of the entire industry, if our reputation is always associated with this kind of thing that challenges the bottom line of safety," Shashua said.
As a supplier of collision detection systems to 27 automakers, Mobileye holds 70% of the market.
Tesla and Musk called the Florida casualty the first fatal accident in Autopilot's 130 million miles. Globally, there is one fatality for every 60 million miles driven by conventional vehicles, they added.
