Tesla Car "Autopilot" Feature Linked to Driver Death
Tesla Motors Inc. delivered 14,370 vehicles in the second quarter, missing its forecast of 17,000 units because of what it called extreme ramp up in production.
The maker of electric cars and energy storage devices now expects to deliver 50,000 cars in the second half, according to a statement Sunday. That means 79,180Model S sedans and Model X sport utility vehicles shipped for the full year, slightly below its previous range of 80,000 to 90,000.
Tesla is ramping up production at its Fremont, California, factory with an eye toward making 500,000 cars a year by 2018. The smaller, less-expensive Model 3 car, which is slated to start at $35,000 before incentives, is scheduled to begin deliveries in late 2017.
On Friday, U.S. regulators began a preliminary investigation into a fatal May crash involving a Model S that had Teslas Autopilot feature engaged. In a blog post, Tesla said that the crash was the first known fatality in more than 130 million miles of Autopilot driving and that the feature, disabled by default in the cars, requires explicit acknowledgment by drivers who enable it that the system is new technology still in testing. At least 70,000 Tesla vehicles worldwide have the Autopilot feature, and the fatal crash has drawn renewed attention to the debate over what kind of guidelines the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should set regarding semi-autonomous and self-driving cars on U.S. roads.
Tesla is also contending with investor fallout after its $2.86 billion all-stock offer to acquire SolarCity Corp. last month. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is SolarCitys chairman and largest shareholder.
The second-quarter deliveries figure is a preliminary number that may change slightly in August when the Palo Alto, California-based company reports earnings for the period. Tesla counts a vehicle as delivered if its transferred to the buyer and all paperwork is correct. The company releases global sales figures quarterly, instead of the monthly country-by-country results typically announced by other automakers.
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Free agents are flying off the board left and right. Let"s look at a few names that have been tied to the Wolves.
Free agency is in full swing and the Minnesota Timberwolves have been in talks with many players. Below are players the Wolves have been linked to as of this writing as well as some pros and cons in regards to if the Wolves should sign them or not. I also rate whether or not the Wolves should sign the player with a grade of 0 being "absolutely not" and 5 being "they should have signed them yesterday."
Pau Gasol
Pros: The biggest strength that Gasol would add would be his veteran presence. The Wolves are still an extremely young team and Gasol could help them learn the ropes a la Kevin Garnett, but in a much calmer way. Karl-Anthony Towns could learn a lot from Gasol, including how to best utilize his passing and finesse on offensive; imagine a world in which Towns spent his first two seasons in the league learning from future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol!
Cons: Ok, I admit, I kind of grasped at straws to find pros for signing Gasol. The fact of the matter is that he doesn"t really solve any of the Wolves" current deficiencies, other than rebounding. He isn"t much of a defensive stopper and doesn"t really stretch the floor. Add in the fact that he will be turning 36 in a few days and I just can"t see his fit with the Wolves.
Should the Wolves sign?: 1.5. There are worse people to sign on a one-year deal, but I think the Wolves would be better off spending their money elsewhere.
Luol Deng
Pros: What"s not to like about Deng? He can play both the three and stretch four and would help significantly improve the Wolves" defense, as evidenced by his 105 defensive rating and 6.4 defensive win shares last season. Deng is also a pretty good rebounder for his size as he pulled down 15.4% of the Miami Heat"s defensive rebounds last season. Basically, he would address all of the major needs the Wolves have this summer.
Cons: The biggest knock against Deng is his age; he is 31, but won"t turn 32 until next April. Deng"s age perhaps places him just outside of the Wolves" perceived timeline, but if he only signs a deal for two or three years his increasing age shouldn"t cause much concern. By the time Deng"s starting days are past him, his contract will be winding up and will be off the books.
Should the Wolves sign?: 4.5. I think Deng should be one of the players the Wolves really target this summer. I understand the concern about his age, but he would undeniably make the team better. Wins can help with development just as much as playing time.
Brandon Bass
Pros: The greatest thing Bass could provide to the Wolves is roster depth. Bass can play as both a power forward and an undersized center. Roster depth is definitely something the Wolves have lacked in the past couple of seasons, especially at the power forward and center positions. Bass would provide exactly that.
Cons: Signing Bass just wouldn"t move the needle much for me. He doesn"t stretch the floor at all (only 55 three-point attempts in his 11 years in the league), and doesn"t play defense either (defensive rating of 111). He is also 31 years old. Outside of depth, I don"t know if Bass can provide much for the Wolves that would improve the team.
Should the Wolves sign?: 2. Like Gasol, I think the Wolves would be better off spending their money elsewhere, but if they do sign Bass I guess it isn"t the end of the world.
Kris Humphries
Pros: Humphries is a good rebounder (21.5 defensive rebounding percentage last season) and a decent defender (104 defensive rating) at the four, both of which are needs for the Wolves. He would provide much needed bench depth as well. Humphries doesn"t do anything spectacular, but he also doesn"t do anything exceptionally bad, either. He"d be a consistent bench player for a team that desperately needs that. Plus, he"s ONE OF US!
Cons: It"s hard to imagine that the signing of Humphries would help the Wolves improve all that much. He doesn"t provide a huge impact when he"s on the court (remember he doesn"t do anything great or bad), so I think the Wolves would be better off giving his minutes to Bjelica and, to a lesser extent, Gorgui Dieng and Towns.
Should the Wolves sign?: 2.5. Humphries would be a better signing than Gasol and Bass, but not by a whole lot.
Anthony Tolliver
Pros: Like Bass and Humphries before him, Tolliver would provide much needed depth to the Wolves front court; a team could do worse than having Tolliver as their third or fourth power forward.
Cons: Tolliver is 31 and wouldn"t figure to play a whole lot. Because of that, I guess there really aren"t many cons to signing him, but I think the Wolves money would be better off spent elsewhere first.
Should the Wolves sign?: 2. The signing of Tolliver just wouldn"t move the needle or make the Wolves that much better.
Courtney Lee
Pros: Lee is a career 38.4% three-point shooter and is an underrated defensive wing stopper. Like Bazemore, he could either come off the bench and be a great sixth man or start and play well next to Wiggins. There is a reason why many teams are interested in his services.
Cons: Like Deng, Lee is 31, so his age is his biggest weakness. Lee also can"t really play any position offensively other than the two, which limits him some. His career three-point percentage may also be a little misleading as he has never attempted more than 3.7 attempts per game for an entire season.
Should the Wolves sign?: 4.5. Lee is basically a cheaper, older Bazemore, but he is a better three-point shooter and provides less defensive versatility.
Willie Reed
Pros: Reed is 26 years old and is intriguing. He only played roughly 10 mpg last season for Brooklyn, but his per 36 numbers are impressive; he averaged 15.4 pp36 and 10.3 rp36 as well as an offensive rating of 116, numbers similar to what he averaged in the D-League. Though, admittedly, the sample size was rather small.
Cons: Reed is 26 and has only played one season in the NBA. Chances are he is already at the beginning of his peak, meaning his growth will probably only occur over the next two or three seasons. I would like the signing of Reed more than that of Gasol, Bass, and even Humphries because of his intriguing (though possibly deceptive) per 36 numbers, but the Wolves should probably focus elsewhere first.
Should the Wolves sign?: 3. Reed could probably be had for very cheap, so taking a flyer on him wouldn"t be all that bad.
The Wolves watched a lot of players go elsewhere yesterday, for better or worse. We"ll see what happens today.
Public sex at MLB New York Mets vs. Cleveland Indians game at Progressive Field - TomoNews
Corey Kluber
Indians right-hander Corey Kluber will face the Blue Jays on Sunday at Rogers Centre. Kluber is 4-1 in his last five starts. He"s 2-0 in his last two starts, allowing two earned runs with 16 strikeouts and two walks in 17 innings. (Ron Schwane, Associated Press)
TORONTO -- The Indians and Blue Jays end their four-game seires Sunday at Rogers Centre. Get scoring updates and participate in a live chat as theclubs meet.
Game 81:Indians (49-31) vs. Jays (43-39).
First pitch: 1:07 p.m.
Broadcast info:SportsTime Ohio, WTAM 1100, WMMS/FM 100.7, Indians Radio Network
Pitching matchup: RHP Corey Kluber (8-7, 3.50) vs. LHP J.A. Happ (10-3, 3.70).
Fact du jour: Carlos Santana hit his 18th homer on Saturday. Santana hit 19 all last year.
PORSCHE GT2 RS, TESLA AUTO-PILOT DEATH & MORE!!! HOTBOX HOT TOPIC - Episode 6
Joshua Brown, the driver of a Tesla Model S, died on May 7 when the autopilot drove it into the side of a tractor-trailer which was making a turn across the divided highway. According to the police report,
On May 7 at 3:40 p.m. on U.S. 27 near the BP Station west of Williston, a 45-year-old Ohio man was killed when he drove under the trailer of an 18-wheel semi. The top of Joshua Browns 2015 Tesla Model S vehicle was torn off by the force of the collision.When the truck made a left turn onto NE 140th Court in front of the car, the cars roof struck the underside of the trailer as it passed under the trailer.
Police report drawing of Tesla crash/Public Domain
When you look at the gruesome drawing of the police report, it is apparent that Tesla went right under the trailer and kept on going. The New York Times notes that the crash is causing a rethink about self-driving cars.
The race by automakers and technology firms to develop self-driving cars has been fueled by the belief that computers can operate a vehicle more safely than human drivers. But that view is now in question after the revelation on Thursday that the driver of a Tesla Model S electric sedan was killed in an accident when the car was in self-driving mode. Federal regulators, who are in the early stages of setting guidelines for autonomous vehicles, have opened a formal investigation into the incident.
However there is another part of this that should be investigated. Tesla, in its press release, notes:
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, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S. Had the Model S impacted the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents.
The story is big news because it is a Tesla on Autopilot, but this is not an extremely rare circumstance. At least 250 Americans die every year in what are known as side-underride collisions, and thousands are seriously injured. Because the side of the trailer is so high, the crush zones, air bags and all the safety features built into cars are useless as the car and driver get decapitated.
Rear underride protection is pretty standard now
Had the Tesla hit the rear of the trailer, all those safety features would have done their job because he would have it the rear underride protection that every truck now has, even though the industry fought it tooth and nail for years. In 2014 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wrote to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, requesting that side underride guards be required to protect passenger cars from running under trailers. According to an industry website, Trailer Body Builders:
In its letter the NHTSA, the National Transportation Safety Board cited a NHTSA report that said 15% of all large truck fatalities involved passenger cars striking the sides of either the tractor or trailer.
Side underride occurs when passenger vehicle bumpers are not at the same height and do not engage the substantial side structure of tractor-trailers, NTSB said in its letter. Side underride collisions are an important safety problem because they defeat crumple zones and prevent air bag deployment, both vital safety advances in improving protection of passenger vehicle occupants during crashes, the NTSB said. Airbags will not deploy in some underride collisions when the sensors to trigger them are not contacted by vehicle structures. Crumple zones do not work as intended in underride collisions when relevant passenger vehicle structures fail to engage tractor-trailer structures.
The NTSB asked that all new trailers be redesigned to prevent these kinds of accidents. Of course they are getting nowhere; the industry wont even accept sideguards to protect pedestrians and cyclists. They claim that stopping cars would add too much weight, hurting fuel economy, and that the bodies of the trailers are not even strong enough to support them.
Krone Safe Liner
In Europe, where they think safety first, they already all have sideguards, but the big trailer manufacturer Krone is testing its new Safeliner, running VWs and Escorts into the side of their trailers. According to Trailer Body Builders again:
The Safe Liner outer frame is not constructed as an I-beam. It is more of a truss frame with rectangular openings to provide underbody access. Three of the openings are to compartments for storage of pallets or other cargo. The other three openings provide access to the three wheels on each side.
And guess what?
Fuel consumption is reduced. According to early test track reports, the tractor-semitrailer combination would use l.4 liter (.37 gallon) less fuel in 100 kilometers (62 miles). This translates into a fuel saving of about .006 miles per gallon, or 600 gallons in a typical year of 100,000 miles traveled. Fuel savings are much more important in Europe, where fuel costs three or four times as much as in the United States.
There is also less splashing, lower levels of road noise and much less wind buffeting of other cars thanks to the improved aerodynamics.
So what if there is a big American study concluding that three quarters of side underride injuries and deaths could have been reduced. This is America and regulation costs money.
The Underride Network is is concerned with issues affecting crash compatibility between small and larger vehicles including all sizes of trucks and SUVs. They are demanding that this issue be recognized and dealt with, that changes be made now, with a Vision Zero approach.
Cost-benefit analysis always limits the lives saved as too costly for industry. Vision Zero works to save all lives. Which of your relatives would you sacrifice for cost-benefit?.. We are asking the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) and NHTSA (National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration) to publicly recognize the existence of millions of underride victims and give them long overdue dignity and honor. These U.S. government sites overseeing truck safety laws and regulations refuse to mention trucking victims and underride victims.
Without a doubt, there must be a close look at what caused the death of Joshua Brown. Nevertheless, this was a side underride collision, common as dirt, that kills hundreds every year because the designs of our cars and our transport trailers are fundamentally incompatible.
As Tesla notes, they have multiple protection systems built into their cars. Joshua Brown would still be alive if trailers had sideguards and underride protection, which would save the lives of many people, on autopilot or not. Perhaps the investigators and the media should focus on that as well.
The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season moves back to Daytona under the lights on Saturday night, with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
NBC begins its 2016 NASCAR coverage with Saturday night"s race, beginning with NASCAR America at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Race coverage moves over to NBC at 7 p.m. with the Countdown to Green pre-race show, followed by the race itself at 7:45 p.m.
Denny Hamlin got the season started off by winning the Daytona 500 in January, but he hasn"t won since. He did finish second last week in Sonoma, though, and will look to ride that momentum into the winner"s circle on Saturday night.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the 2015 Coke Zero 400, his second career win at the event. He enters Saturday night 12th in points this season, still looking for his first win. Earnhardt does have four second-place finishes.
Tony Stewart is coming off his first win of the season last week at Sonoma, and has won the Coke Zero 400 four times, the last in 2012. His win last week gives the feeling that Saturday night could be anyone"s race.
"Our story lines just increased a thousand percent by Tony Stewart winning the race," NBC analyst Dale Jarrett told reporters on Wednesday. "Who is going to be that next one to step up? We"ve got a lot of young talent, and it"s going to be very interesting to watch their progression, and as we get closer to the cutoff for the Chase, who is going to still be trying to get that win, and who is close enough in points that they"re going to be driving in maybe a way that we haven"t seen in that situation and scenario."
Greg Biffle, looking for not only his first win of 2016 but also his first top-10 finish,won the pole position on Friday.
Rick Allen will call the race for NBC alongside analysts Steve Burton and Jeff Letarte in the booth, plus reports on pit road from Marty Snider, Mike Massaro, Kelli Stavast and Dave Burns.
The race can be followed online both before and during the action using NBC Sports Live Extra. The race will be rebroadcast on Sunday at 3 p.m. and Monday at 3:30 p.m., both on NBCSN.
Coke Zero 400 info
Location: Daytona International Speedway
Pre-race show: 6:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN)
Race coverage: 7 p.m.
Green flag: 8:05 p.m. (approximately)
TV: NBC
Online: NBC Sports Live Extra
Radio: Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM channel 90
O.J. Mayo 40 points vs Rockets - Full Highlights (2012.12.08)
NEW YORK O.J. Mayo has been dismissed and disqualified from the NBA for violating the terms of the leagues anti-drug program.
The NBA said Friday the No. 3 overall pick in the 2008 draft out of USC is eligible to apply for reinstatement in two years.
Mayo spent the past three seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks. He averaged 7.8 points in 41 games last season, including 24 starts.
According to rules of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program, information regarding the testing or treatment of a player cant be disclosed by the league, his team or the union.
2016 by Associated Press
Heres the official release from the NBA:
NEW YORK, July 1, 2016 The NBA announced today that free agent O.J. Mayo has beendismissed and disqualified from the league for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-DrugProgram.
Under the Anti-Drug Program, Mayo is eligible to apply for reinstatement in two years.
The NBA, NBA teams, and the Players Association are prohibited from publicly disclosinginformation regarding the testing or treatment of any NBA player under the Anti-Drug Program,other than to announce a player"s suspension or dismissal from the league.
Abby Chin crunches the numbers and explains which teams are better for Kevin Durants wallet.
Eric Frede and A. Sherrod Blakely discuss whether or not AlHorford will be enough to get Kevin Durant to join the Celtics.
A. Sherrod Blakely, Abby Chin and Eric Frede discuss the signing of Al Horford and what it means for the Celtics.
Nick Kyrgios andFeliciano Lopez will resume their entertaining No 1 Court battle afterSloane Stephens and Svetlana Kuznetsov finish fighting it out for a place in the fourth round.
Daniel Schofieldwas in attendance as Kyrgios raced into a one-set lead before Lopez got the better of him in a second set tiebreak, and filed this report:
Andy Murray must wait to discover who he will face in the fourth round as NickKyrgiosand Feliciano Lopez were locked at a set apiece (6-3, 6-7) in a combustible but compelling encounter before bad light stopped play.
If the resumption is any bit as good as the first leg of their match then spectators on No 1 court are in for a treat. Between themKyrgios, the No 15 seed, and Lopez, who is ranked seven players lower, hit 99 winners from which you could easily draw a shot of the tournament compilation.
The shots were only part of the attraction. Despite their different backgrounds, the two men are clearly kindred spirits particularly in regard to publicly expressing their emotions.Kyrgios, the 21-year-old from Australia, began the match in a state of near fury and his disposition only darkened with his players box earning his scorn for a perceived lack of support.
The Australian also directed his fury at the British weather when he needed a medical timeout in the first set for what appeared to be a blocked nose. On-court microphones caught him telling the medical trainer, You know why? It is the stupid weather, its my nose.
Lopez matched if not better that vocal output. Halfway through the first set, the Spaniard appeared to be incandescent. With what no one really knew, although like withKyrgiosmost of his ire seemed to be aimed towards his players box Given that both men came through five-set marathons in their previous round, Murray can afford to kick back and relish watching another war to decide who he will face next week.
The BBC as well as those lucky enough to be in possession of Centre Court tickets must be hoping it isKyrgios. For all his histrionics and hissy fits such a match would be pure box office.
