24 cars blue sky

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Tesla Driver Involved in Fatal Crash While Using “Autopilot” Mode

2015-Tesla-Model-S-P85D-PLACEMENT Federal safety regulators opened a preliminary investigation Thursday into the performance of the Tesla Motors' Model S after one of the vehicles was involved in a fatal crash while operating in semi-autonomous mode.

The driver of a Model S was killed on May 7 in Williston, Florida, when the vehicle, with its "Autopilot" feature engaged, failed to sense a tractor trailer that was making a left turn across a divided highway. The crash marks the first known time a motorist has been killed in a car operating in a self-driving mode.

Tesla said it learned of the preliminary investigation late Wednesday. In a written statement, the company acknowledged the fatal crash occurred in autonomous mode. "Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied," Tesla officials wrote. "The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer."

The preliminary investigation, conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will examine the design and performance of the Model S and its components. Investigators could choose to upgrade the investigation into an engineering analysis at a later date, which could be the prelude to a recall.

Tesla introduced the "Autopilot" feature in late 2015, and said the fatality is the first among 130 million miles of driving. Company officials noted the feature remains in a "public beta phase" which requires its users to acknowledge they remain ultimately responsible for the vehicle and its performance. "Autopilot is getting better all the time, but it is not perfect and still requires the driver to remain alert," the company said. There have been no statements from any representatives of the driver.

-

from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe

First-Ever Shelby Cobra Could Bring $10M at Auction

--------------------------------

from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe

First-Ever Shelby Cobra Could Bring $10M at Auction

-Interested in buying a legend? The original Shelby Cobra, the very first car that Carroll Shelby hand-built, the one that kicked off the Shelby legacy that still carries on today, is going up for sale at RM Sotheby's Monterey Auction on August 19. We have a feeling this car is going to generate some intense bidding.

When we say original, we mean it. This is the very first of the Cobras—created in 1962 when Carroll Shelby shoehorned a 260-cubic-inch Ford V-8 between the wheel wells of a British-made AC Ace roadster. When that engine met that body, a legend was born.

The car, known as CSX 2000, served as the development prototype for what would become the Shelby empire. And it never left the founder's hands—Shelby maintained this car as his personal Cobra from day one. It is truly a one-owner car.

That's not to say it was pampered, though. In a tale that is now legendary, Shelby pulled a little scam on the car magazines that tested this car. After the Cobra was made public, CSX 2000 was sent out to every major car magazine for testing. But Shelby, wanting it to seem like he'd already built a fleet of Cobras, had the car repainted a different color before each magazine test. The magazines each thought they'd gotten a different car, and Shelby's legend was sealed.

"It is the actual pen with which he signed his declaration of war and the idea upon which he built his company and revolutionized American racing—and the greater auto industry as a whole," RM Sotheby's writes. "It is, without exception, the single most important and history-rewriting sports car ever offered at auction, after over 50 years of ownership and without ever leaving the care of its founding father."

Hyperbole? Maybe not. It's hard to think of a single automobile that changed the course of sports-car history as definitively as the Cobra. This was the car that sealed Shelby's career, that led Ford to become a 1960s racing powerhouse, that founded the American tradition of front-engine, rear-drive, hairy-chested roadsters that still beats in our veins today.

Car and Driver Tested: The 12 Quickest Cars of the 1960s
Shelby American Is Building Brand-New Daytona Coupes
Watch Oak Ridge National Lab 3D-Print a Replica Shelby Cobra

And among all the immensely collectible Shelby products of skyrocketing value, this will assuredly be the most coveted. Dave Kinney, publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide, estimates that this Holy Grail Cobra could bring $10 million—or more. Carroll Shelby had an unerring sense of the value of his cars; no wonder he held onto this one.

A version of this story originally appeared on Road & Track.

-

from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe

NHTSA Investigating Tesla Model S Following Fatal ‘Autopilot’ Crash

A recent fatal crash of a 2015 Tesla Model S operating in "Autopilot" mode prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open a preliminary investigation into the model, Reuters is reporting. Because the crash occurred when the vehicle was under the control of an autonomous driving system, the NHTSA said it is planning "an examination […]

The post NHTSA Investigating Tesla Model S Following Fatal 'Autopilot' Crash appeared first on The Truth About Cars.

from The Truth About Cars http://ift.tt/Jh8LjA

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe