NHTSA investigating alleged Tesla Autopilot crash that killed woman in her home
NHTSA investigating alleged Tesla Autopilot crash that killed woman in her home
美国国家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）正调查一起特斯拉自动驾驶致人死亡事故
An elderly Texas woman tragically died Friday after a man who told police he was relying on his Tesla Model 3’s automated driver-assistance mode lost control and crashed his car into her family’s home. In a statement, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Ars that Michael Butler said that “he was operating with an automated driving-assistance system engaged at the time of the crash.” 上周五，德克萨斯州一名老年妇女不幸身亡。此前，一名男子告诉警方，他在驾驶特斯拉 Model 3 时依赖其自动驾驶辅助模式，随后车辆失控并撞入该妇女家中。哈里斯县治安官办公室在给 Ars 的声明中证实，迈克尔·巴特勒（Michael Butler）表示“在事故发生时，他正开启着自动驾驶辅助系统”。
Police are currently investigating whether the autopilot feature in any way caused the crash but confirmed that Butler was not intoxicated and is cooperating, partly by helping cops understand how Tesla’s Autopilot feature works. “Butler failed to drive in a single lane, left the roadway, and struck the residence” at a “high rate of speed,” the sheriff’s office said. 警方目前正在调查自动驾驶功能是否在某种程度上导致了这起事故，但确认巴特勒并未酒驾，且正在配合调查，包括协助警方了解特斯拉自动驾驶功能的工作原理。治安官办公室表示：“巴特勒未能保持在车道内行驶，偏离了道路，并以‘高速’撞向了住宅。”
It remains unclear how fast the car was going, but The New York Times shared a disturbing doorbell camera video of the crash showing the moment when the Tesla plowed through the brick home’s front. On Facebook, the Office of Constable Terry Allbritton shared photos showing the destruction to the home. 目前尚不清楚车辆的具体速度，但《纽约时报》分享了一段令人不安的门铃摄像头视频，记录了特斯拉撞穿砖房正面的瞬间。特里·奥尔布里顿（Terry Allbritton）警官办公室在 Facebook 上分享的照片展示了房屋受损的情况。
Martha Avila, 76, was standing in the front room of the house, where she lived with her daughter, son-in-law, and three young grandkids. Her daughter, Jennifer Barbour, told a local news outlet that no one else was hurt. The family remains “devastated” by the loss, with Barbour emphasizing that Avila was on no medications and in otherwise good health when she passed suddenly from her injuries. 76 岁的玛莎·阿维拉（Martha Avila）当时正站在房子的前厅，她与女儿、女婿及三个年幼的孙辈住在一起。她的女儿詹妮弗·巴伯（Jennifer Barbour）告诉当地媒体，没有其他人受伤。这家人对失去亲人感到“悲痛欲绝”，巴伯强调，阿维拉生前没有服用任何药物，身体状况良好，却因伤势过重突然离世。
She thought her mother might live to 100, the way her grandmother did, she said, and feels Avila was robbed of significant time with her grandkids. “She didn’t deserve to go that way,” Barbour said. The family is in mourning while living in a hotel and waiting for answers, stuck in a state of uncertainty over whether the Tesla or the driver is to blame. “I don’t know if it’s his fault or the car’s fault or what really happened,” Barbour said. “I’ve never seen a car go that fast.” 她说，她曾以为母亲能像外祖母一样活到 100 岁，并感到阿维拉被剥夺了与孙辈共度的宝贵时光。“她不该以这种方式离开，”巴伯说。这家人目前住在酒店里哀悼，等待着答案，陷入了对特斯拉还是驾驶员应负责任的迷茫之中。“我不知道是他的错还是车的错，或者到底发生了什么，”巴伯说，“我从未见过车开得那么快。”
Tesla did not immediately respond to Ars’ request to comment. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Ars it is launching a special crash investigation after this accident. 特斯拉没有立即回应 Ars 的置评请求。美国国家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）告诉 Ars，在事故发生后，他们已启动一项特别事故调查。
Tesla claims Autopilot saves lives
特斯拉声称自动驾驶能挽救生命
Tesla’s Autopilot feature is popular, but it cannot be fully trusted, with the owner’s manual reminding drivers that “they should keep their hands on the wheel and take over if anything goes wrong,” the Times noted. However, Tesla’s marketing often sends a mixed message, critics think. As recently as May, Tesla’s X account posted an ad showing drivers with their hands off the wheel, goofing off while waving their fingers in the air or sipping a hot coffee from a ceramic mug with two hands. 《纽约时报》指出，特斯拉的自动驾驶功能虽然受欢迎，但不能完全信任，车主手册提醒驾驶员“应将手放在方向盘上，并在出现问题时接管车辆”。然而，批评人士认为，特斯拉的营销往往传递出矛盾的信息。就在今年 5 月，特斯拉的 X 账号发布了一则广告，展示驾驶员双手离开方向盘，在空中挥舞手指或双手捧着陶瓷杯喝热咖啡的画面。
The day after Butler’s crash, the Tesla X account reposted a gushing comment from a Tesla fan who shared a pic of himself taking a photo of a sunset while driving. His caption claimed that Tesla’s technology “is both magical and life changing, relaxing and maybe even lifesaving!” 在巴特勒事故发生的第二天，特斯拉的 X 账号转发了一位特斯拉粉丝的热情评论，该粉丝分享了一张自己在驾驶时拍摄日落的照片。他的配文称，特斯拉的技术“既神奇又改变生活，令人放松，甚至可能挽救生命！”
For years, Tesla has claimed that automated self-driving features will make roads safer by eliminating human errors that commonly cause crashes. And under the Trump administration, Tesla seems best positioned to rapidly advance its technology and get more cars on the road with fewer human controls and without regulatory delays. 多年来，特斯拉一直声称自动驾驶功能将通过消除导致事故的常见人为错误来使道路更安全。在特朗普政府领导下，特斯拉似乎处于最有利的地位，能够迅速推进其技术，让更多减少人工控制的车辆上路，且不受监管延迟的影响。
Currently, the company is pushing for the NHTSA to relax two rules. One proposed rule change would allow automated vehicle (AV) makers like Tesla to remove displays that let drivers view transmission shift positions. In support, Tesla claimed that automated driving systems (ADS) make such displays obsolete because humans don’t need this information, but Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety warned that “it is critically important that passengers of a vehicle operated by an ADS can determine if the vehicle is in the proper gear before exiting or entering the vehicle.” 目前，该公司正在推动 NHTSA 放宽两项规定。其中一项拟议的规则变更将允许特斯拉等自动驾驶汽车（AV）制造商移除显示变速箱档位的屏幕。特斯拉辩称，自动驾驶系统（ADS）使此类显示变得多余，因为人类不需要这些信息。但“公路与汽车安全倡导者”（Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety）组织警告称，“对于由 ADS 操作的车辆，乘客在进出车辆前能够确认车辆是否处于正确的档位至关重要。”
According to Advocates, NHTSA has shown no research proving that the update would improve road safety. The other rule change follows similar logic: NHTSA proposed that AVs relying on ADS don’t need windshield wipers or defogging controls for humans to operate. As Tesla commented, “there is no safety need” because the ADS relies on cameras to operate, “not transparency of the windshield zones.” 据该倡导组织称，NHTSA 尚未提供任何研究证明这一更新能提高道路安全。另一项规则变更遵循类似的逻辑：NHTSA 提议，依赖 ADS 的自动驾驶汽车不需要供人类操作的挡风玻璃雨刷或除雾控制装置。正如特斯拉所评论的那样，“没有安全需求”，因为 ADS 依靠摄像头运行，“而不是挡风玻璃区域的透明度”。
If Tesla gets its way, NHTSA would approve that rule change not just for smaller vehicles but also for mid-sized and large SUVs. However, Advocates are recommending that NHTSA instead drop the rule change, since there are a “multitude of safety reasons” why it’s critical to ensure “passengers can observe their surroundings to exit or enter a vehicle during a routine operation.” 如果特斯拉如愿以偿，NHTSA 不仅会批准小型车辆的这一规则变更，还会批准中型和大型 SUV 的变更。然而，该倡导组织建议 NHTSA 放弃这一规则变更，因为确保“乘客在日常操作中能观察周围环境以进出车辆”有着“众多的安全理由”。
Imagine if the car is involved in a serious crash or there’s a major obstruction in the road that passengers otherwise may not be able to see, Advocates suggested. In both comments, Advocates emphasized that features like Tesla’s Autopilot remain “unproven,” while motor vehicle deaths remain “historically high.” Advocates urged NHTSA to consider that even a single fatality, such as Avila’s death, has a “horrific ripple effect forever changing the lives of children, parents, friends and communities.” 该组织建议，试想如果车辆发生严重事故，或者道路上有乘客无法看到的重大障碍物，情况会怎样。在两项评论中，该组织都强调，像特斯拉自动驾驶这样的功能仍然“未经证实”，而机动车死亡人数仍处于“历史高位”。该组织敦促 NHTSA 考虑，即使是像阿维拉死亡这样的单一死亡事件，也会产生“可怕的连锁反应，永远改变孩子、父母、朋友和社区的生活”。
The group also took time to contradict claims from AV makers like Tesla, which often rely on a 2019 NHTSA study finding that 94 percent of car accidents are due to human error in order to suggest that AVs will make roads safer. According to Advocates, these claims are “misleading” because NHTSA emphasized in that study that human error was documented as a “critical reason” linked to the crashes, but “it is not intended to be interpreted as the cause of the crash nor as the assignment of the fault to the driver, vehicle, or environment.” 该组织还反驳了特斯拉等自动驾驶汽车制造商的说法。这些制造商经常引用 NHTSA 2019 年的一项研究，该研究发现 94% 的车祸是由人为错误引起的，以此暗示自动驾驶汽车将使道路更安全。据该倡导组织称，这些说法具有“误导性”，因为 NHTSA 在该研究中强调，人为错误被记录为与事故相关的“关键原因”，但“并不旨在被解释为事故的起因，也不旨在将过错归咎于驾驶员、车辆或环境”。