Tesla is announcing a recall of some 55 000 vehicles models ranging from the popular three
sedan up to their Model X SUV and years from 2016 up to present day 2022's all over what some are
calling a faulty rolling stop feature while in autopilot mode now these tesla cars effectively
do not come to a complete stop at stop signs which has got regulators upset with Elon Musk saying
this is not a glitch this was programmed that way so here to weigh in on all of this is Lauren Fix
she is known as the car coach and is an automotive industry expert lauren thank you for joining us so
what do you think is it a glitch or were some engineers being naughty and making it so these
cars just don't come to a full stop well honestly some genius program this in they say it says
and they're in their owners menu that if you're going below five miles an hour and the system
does not detect uh any other bicycles pedestrians or anything that it will roll a stop sign now that
is illegal if you and i did that we would get a ticket so you're basically teaching bad habits
to a computer because computers learn so whoever programmed this in is basically telling people
you're breaking the law so what you want to teach kids and their new drivers is come to a complete
stop and any driver's ed test would require that you look left and right make sure everything's
clear or if you're in a four-way stop and then continue this is saying no just go ahead and
roll just don't worry about that really because basically you're breaking the law and it could be
dangerous to anything now what about that lauren what of all the drivers that do this infamous
California rolling stop in these cars that have gotten uh these tickets i mean does that change
liability in any way now that you know it's been revealed that these cars were i guess basically
defective well they were programmed that way so it was intentional so you will get a ticket in the
court of law if you break the law whether you roll a stop sign or you're speeding or you're driving
too aggressively a police officer has a right to write you a ticket and you will be paying for that
you will not be able to fight a ticket saying you didn't do it even though the car did it because
the truth is you're the driver you're responsible behind the wheel and this is going to be one of
those huge factors that impacts the potential of autonomous cars which again he's claiming that his
autopilot is autonomous and there's no such thing as autonomy right now we're at level coming into
level three Mercedes and Audi and BMW have cleared that hurdle no other manufacturer has and tesla
certainly is not at level five which is basically you sit back you cross your arms or you go to
sleep that is not something that is considered actually occurring in today's environment and
consumers are not ready for that and neither are the insurance companies or any other driver
now there are multiple lawsuits in this country and in Europe over tesla cars being unable to stop
while in self-driving mode now as you mentioned tesla says it's still ultimately up to the driver
to make that final decision um while the car is in motion people have died lauren in some instances
is this a result of driver error or does tesla need to just go back to the drawing board
well i think tesla over promised on something autopilot something that anybody can use it's
autonomous driving and the fact is that is not the case again if you rely on a car to
do the driving you still have to sit behind the wheel now there are some self lane centering uh
products out there like super cruise and blue crews and a lot of these other autonomous
type things but it's meant for you to reach over and grab a cup of coffee and take a sip you still
have to keep your eyes on the road and that's why they're tracking your eyes and making sure
your hands have a certain impact on the steering wheel well tesla doesn't require that and there
have been deaths not just the driver themselves but other people that the tesla hits and this is
a huge problem and i am shocked that knits is constantly saying oh it's okay it's not we're
not going to press charges if with any other car company they would go after them with a vengeance
and so that's why other car companies are not over promising and under delivering and he is
now more and more car makers are working on autopilot functions domestically are
our roads are they ready for autopilot or other drivers are we ready to see driverless action
well it's funny about five years ago i was in Georgetown uh with Volvo and they had uh someone
behind the wheel and i was in the passenger seat and you could see bicyclists looking over as we
were they were showing us their autonomy this has been in place since 2009 Audi had back then where
a driver would sit there with their arms crossed just to prove they could do it but it was always
an engineer behind the wheel and we as journalists got to sit in the passenger seat and watch
the reaction to other drivers and they're not ready for this and that's the truth i mean it
sounds great oh yeah just you know i can go to the mall i can fall asleep or if i drink too much
all of this sounds great if if that's your situation then get somebody else to drive
don't rely on some of the autonomous features that are there to keep you safer on the road and the
key is to use them ninety percent of drivers get them they're showing them when they buy
the car and then they don't use them and so then what's the point yeah it sounds like our streets
and the regular people the other people in regular i guess we'll call them regular cars
are not ready for all of this and i'm just curious since uh we're talking about those
those rolling stop tickets i wonder if they can send Elon musk the bill
yeah i don't think that's gonna happen either i mean you probably have to get a class action
lawsuit which you probably could if you have 54 000 cars and and let's just say for argument's
sake those 54 000 people were using it you might be able to put together a class action lawsuit
with some attorney who specializes in that because you purchased the car with that feature because
you were told it was a cool thing but maybe it sounds cool on the surface but it's still illegal
that doesn't mean you're allowed to use it and the fact that people are using it in other countries
could potentially lead to a lot of other disasters but i tell you a good attorney could have a good
time with a class-action lawsuit absolutely i think there are a lot of lawsuits to come with
this kind of autopilot stuff Lauren Fix always great to have your expertise thank you thank you