> During the 18-minute 55-second segment, the vehicle provided two visual alerts and one auditory alert for the driver to place his hands on the steering wheel. These alerts were made more than 15 minutes prior to the crash.
Whoah. So there were NO alerts for 15 minutes prior to the crash. Compare this with Tesla's earlier statement:
> The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision.[1]
This gives a very different impression. They omitted the fact that there were no warnings for 15 minutes. Frankly that appears to be an intentionally misleading omission.
So basically the driver was distracted for 6 seconds while believing that the car was auto-following the car in front of it.
Even the 'the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision' is suspect because it is known to be a pretty unreliable detection mechanism.
Besides, it doesn't matter: if the drivers hands were on the steering wheel they clearly weren't alert enough to hit the brakes or steer away from the impact so the point is entirely moot: autopilot was in full control of the car, whether the driver had their hands on the wheel or not to satisfy an alarm doesn't matter.
About "hands not detected on the wheel part", it seems that the car only detects steering torsion, and it is possible that the driver actually had hands on the wheel, but just didn't provide any steering input.
Whoah. So there were NO alerts for 15 minutes prior to the crash. Compare this with Tesla's earlier statement:
> The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision.[1]
This gives a very different impression. They omitted the fact that there were no warnings for 15 minutes. Frankly that appears to be an intentionally misleading omission.
So basically the driver was distracted for 6 seconds while believing that the car was auto-following the car in front of it.
[1] https://www.tesla.com/blog/update-last-week’s-accident