The Tesla software will be more complicated, but all of it will still have been through the same extremely rigorous certification process;

Yes but who’s certifications process?
Teslas? or someone independent?
Planes have to be certified to external standards (CAA, FAA etc). Is there an equivalent for self driving cars?

Technically, if anyone is explaining Darwinism to the deceased children, then it doesn’t actually apply… Jus’ sayin

That was my point

Yes but who’s certifications process?

ISO 26262 covers automotive software, then there are a whole raft of other related global or industry standards and bodies such as MISRA in the UK. We are audited by BSI but there are others. The national transport body will have final say, so Tesla will have to answer to the NHTSA.

From a safety point of view it doesn’t matter all that much what a system does, but you have to demonstrate that you’ve spent ages and ages and ages doing things properly, testing it thoroughly and covered every eventuality you can think of. This will be a very long list with automatic driving systems.

Inevitably there will be things that get missed, like this, but that doesn’t mean the process doesn’t work; things still crop up occasionally with aircraft systems and they are more mature and even more risk averse than cutting edge automotive systems like this.

Also worth noting that this accident probably wouldn’t have been fatal had it occurred in Europe where trucks have side underride bars, and possibly wouldn’t have happened at all

Not true – I suggest you read the side under-run regulations before quoting that one.

The side bars only have to resist a very small force – basically to stop pedestrians or cyclists going under the rear wheels. Some trucks do have beefy side rails, but they aren’t legally required. Most trucks just have flimsy rails or a GRP moulding attached to skinny galvanised steel brackets. Rear under-runs on the other hand are tested to a very large force and have a certain contact area, height etc.

@phii no it was a demo setup with a model pedestrian and the car was suppsoed to stop but it didn’t

As I said Darwin awards have been doing the rounds for what 10 or 20 years ?

The guy wasn’t paying attention, he was replying ona system which Tesla tell you not to reply on but its quite clear to me people will reply on. I’ve seen some stats about the number of interventions there have been with the google cars, many incidents where without that there would have probably been a crash.

Product safety regulation of the like we see in the Aviation industry are completely different to standards bodies which are largely voluntary. For a start they are compulsory and fully regulate all the elements of the industry from aircraft and aircraft systems design, to the design of airports, the air traffic control systems and right down to how operations on the ground at airports behave and how airlines have to manage their paperwork, maintenance and even stock and inventory control of spare parts. This is nothing like what bodies like ISO, MISRA etc do. They don’t even scratch the surface in comparison.
If we’re going to move towards fully automated self-drive cars then the whole transportation network has to be brought under a common body that see’s over the design of the road network, the vehicles themselves, absolutely everything.

That might lead to proper segregated cycle paths…… only by virtue of if we are allowed to mix with automated cars the cars will be crawling along confused at cyclists 🙂

Someone pointed out to me today the utterly fantastic yet also horifically tragic outcome of self driving cars will be that in the future, sooner or later, someone is going to die of natural causes behind the wheel.

So, someone will be expecting their wife/husband to come home from work, or their dinner guests to arrive, and a car is going to pull up on the driveway with their loved ones dead body inside for them to discover 😯

You could just enter the postcode for the funeral directors and send em on their way..
Drive in mausoleums could be the next big earner too, laid to rest in a Tesla..