Editorial

Certain to be the year's most significant development in the automated-driving milieu was the August announcement from the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. (NHTSA) that it opened an investigation into Tesla's Autopilot driver-assistance system after a disturbing pattern of accidents over the past several years. To now, the agency's inaction on these generally widely reported incidents has mystified all manner of entities related to automated-driving development.

On the facing page, our advanced-mobility columnist Sam Abuelsamid offers a succinct technical hypothesis of a sensor-software mashup likely at the root of the Tesla accidents. The incidents under NHTSA investigation - 11 since 2018 involving stationary first-responder vehicles somehow intruding in the Teslas' intended path of travel - would seem to represent the classic software “edge case” that even laypeople can comprehend, no?