Class Action Lawsuit Against Tesla for 'Phantom Braking' Events Raises Safety Concerns
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Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool, but it has its limitations. It can be difficult to train an AI system to recognize the difference between a stationary object and one that’s moving, or even to detect objects at all in certain conditions. This leads to ‘phantom braking’ events where the car brakes suddenly for no reason. Tesla cars have been plagued by this issue for years, despite software updates and refinements.
Tesla owners Michael Costello and Megan Colonel recently filed a class action lawsuit against the automaker claiming their vehicles suffer from this defect. The lawsuit alleges that these phantom braking events are a safety hazard and make Tesla cars “unreasonably dangerous to consumers because it severely impacts a driver’s ability to control vehicle speed as expected under normal driving conditions and maintain an appropriate speed based on traffic flow, thereby increasing the risk of a rear-end collision.”
It appears that other automakers such as Hyundai have also experienced similar issues with emergency braking systems failing to prevent accidents in some cases. However, many drivers report that their 2012 Genesis models never experienced any unintended braking events. This suggests that the problem may not be entirely unsolvable, but rather due to technical challenges that Tesla hasn't yet managed to overcome.
One possible solution could involve extending the neural network used by Autopilot and Full Self Driving (FSD) features so that it considers more frames from each camera when making decisions about whether or not to brake. This would enable the AI system to be more cautious if there's only a 50% certainty in multiple frames, while assuming a glitch if only 1 or 2 of the last 50 frames have a 50% certainty. Of course, this would require significantly more computing power and time to train such a neural net.
The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina and Tesla will likely fight it by asking that it be thrown out since buyers agreed to mandatory arbitration at the time of purchase. It remains unclear how successful this case will be given the small number of opt-outs who are eligible for inclusion in the class action suit.
Ultimately, we hope that this lawsuit will prompt Tesla to discuss this issue publicly and explain what steps they're taking to address it once and for all. As much as we appreciate advanced technology like Autopilot and FSD, safety must always come first – especially when lives are at stake.
What is the class action lawsuit against Tesla about?
The lawsuit, filed by two owners in North Carolina, alleges that Tesla vehicles suffer from a brake defect known as ‘phantom braking’ and that the automaker has been aware of the defect for years but continues to sell their cars to buyers.
What are the consequences of this defect?
The lawsuit claims that these phantom braking events are a safety hazard and makes Tesla cars “unreasonably dangerous to consumers because it severely impacts a driver’s ability to control vehicle speed as expected under normal driving conditions and maintain an appropriate speed based on traffic flow, thereby increasing the risk of a rear-end collision.”
Why hasn't Tesla solved this issue?
When the neural network is 99% sure that there's a car in front, it will hit the brakes. But what if it's only 50% sure? Do you err on the side of caution and hit the brakes? The obvious solution is to extend the neural network to consider more "history" from the cameras, but this requires a lot more computing power and time to train such a neural net.
Is Tesla using RADAR for its Autopilot/FSD systems?
No, Tesla no longer uses RADAR for its Autopilot/FSD systems. It is now all vision-based.
Can I opt out of mandatory Arbitration when ordering a Tesla?
You can opt out of mandatory Arbitration at the time of order by referring to pages 4-5 of your original order. However, few people do so, which means that the Class Action would include only a small number of opt-outs.