By now, it’s barely a secret that human ambition knows no boundary whatsoever. This piece of reality is exactly what has led us towards some crazy achievements over the past. Now, while we enjoy the benefits emerging from such a dynamic, we must also give a fair amount of attention to all the wrongs present in here. You see, as useful as it looks at times, our ambition can very well turn detrimental in a jiffy. It has been proven on several occasions. In fact, even a generational tool like technology couldn’t alter that fact. To contextualize it, we can take an example of some recent events within our automotive industry. If you have kept a close eye on the automotive industry lately, you’d know how the horizons are altering so significantly around the said block. With literally every sector leader going all in on autonomous vehicles, it doesn’t seem hard to imagine where the sector is headed. Nevertheless, before it gets there, the automotive industry needs to navigate through some major challenges along the way. In fact, Tesla’s recent decision gives you a pretty clear glimpse of the hardships that lie ahead.
Tesla has officially recalled software from over 53,822 of its vehicles. The decision, which concerns a particular “rolling stop” feature, covers Tesla’s Model S, X, 3, and Y. According to certain reports, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that allowing the cars to “roll through an all-way stop intersection without first coming to a stop” can increase the risk of a crash. Tesla, in response, did refer to how they haven’t yet seen any crash reports, injuries or warranty claims relating to the feature, but for now, the automotive giant will be removing the feature by a free over-the-air software update. It’s not the first time we are witnessing Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software making headlines for the wrong reasons. The company’s call to let the general public use debugged features in the name of testing has already raked in some serious criticism. Tesla, on the other hand, doesn’t look fazed at all, as the company has now further expended its controversial testing program to over 60,000 vehicles.
During a recent earnings call, CEO, Elon Musk even reiterated his belief in the project.
“My personal guess,” Musk said, “is that we’ll achieve Full Self-Driving this year at a safety level significantly greater than a person. So the cars in the fleet essentially becoming self-driving via software update, I think, might end up being the biggest increase in asset value of any asset class in history. We shall see.”