While quoting a tweet from a CNBC reporter, Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut, which refuses to allow Tesla to sell cars to its customers on behalf of dealerships, claimed that Tesla is putting untrained drivers on public roads as testers for an unproven system. To make a bold claim that Tesla is doing this is truly misleading and practically false. It also shows that the Senator doesn’t understand Tesla at all.
Tesla is putting untrained drivers on public roads as testers for their misleadingly-named, unproven system—a seeming recipe for disaster. Serious safety concerns should put this reckless plan in reverse. It’s Russian Roulette for unsuspecting drivers & the public. https://t.co/jUGCuawc67
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 27, 2021
The article he cited stated that Tesla delivered the FSD Beta button even though NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy voiced safety concerns while also claiming that Elon Musk implied that she wasn’t being fair to Tesla. Although this is somewhat true, it is also misleading. You would think that Elon Musk and Jennifer Homendy had a meeting where she advised him, but it seems this is not actually the case. Homendy, who is pro-union, went off on Tesla to the Wall Street Journal. Her key concerns weren’t about safety, but about words. She was upset over the naming of the software.
Not only didn’t she acknowledge the fact that Tesla has a safety system in place, but she claimed that Tesla “misled numerous people to misuse and abuse technology.” These so-called safety concerns are just her personal opinion, not backed up by a solid list of such people.
The Cherrypicking Continues
I’d be happy to speak with someone from your office more about this issue and my experiences with the software
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) September 27, 2021
Senator Blumenthal doesn’t seem to understand how Tesla’s FSD Beta works. He also doesn’t understand how Tesla is able to know whether or not a driver is safe. And the mainstream media is criticizing Tesla’s method of keeping drivers safe. Tesla is able to use the data from over 6 million miles driven by its customers to determine whether or not a driver is using safe driving practices.
They completely overlook that and accuse Tesla of giving random people access to “dangerous tech.” They also overlook the fact that so far, there has not been one accident involving FSD Beta. I hope that statistic continues to be proven true. Another thing that they don’t overlook but twist to make seem really bad is that Tesla will take away FSD from drivers who don’t practice safe driving. They use phrases such as “punishing Tesla customers” and mock the safety score.
Tesla’s Safety Score Is Brilliant, Yet Mocked
Tesla literally gamified safe driving and its critics are doing the usual moaning and groaning about killing people, even outright mocking. Spreading lies and false information is just a part of a narrative that is being pushed onto the general public by Tesla’s critics, who include UAW and politicians who don’t understand the technology.
The Biden administration is pro-union and has gone out of its way to blatantly ignore Tesla’s achievements while supporting Tesla’s critics, who go promote anti-Tesla conspiracies. Yes, safety is a concern for all, but they ignore Tesla’s safety record and Elon’s own personal stance on safety, and now they are pushing the narrative that Tesla is putting untrained drivers on public roads.
If you have a driver’s license, you should be “trained.” You should know the laws, know how to brake, know how to use turn signals, etc. That statement by the senator is highly misleading and shows that he knows nothing about Tesla or how it uses data and AI to increase driver safety — despite Tesla holding AI Day, where it explained the details of the technology.
Just A Thought
This is a thought that’s been in my head for some time. Many industries benefit financially from car accidents and unsafe driving. Insurance, pharmaceutical, and medical all make money off of car accident victims. Imagine a world where there are no car accidents. The CDC stated that accidents are the third leading cause of death — behind cancer and heart disease. Accidents, in general, can happen outside of a car/driving, but the National Safety Council (NSC) stated that motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for people of every single year of life from age 4 to 12 and from 14 to 22 and a leading killer in all age groups.
Tesla has invented a technology that will prevent a lot of these deaths, but our leaders and industry supporters are against the tech, calling it dangerous and pushing the narrative that Tesla will cause people to die.