Tesla’s head of artificial intelligence and autopilot Andrej Karpathy is leaving the company at a critical time – as it faces renewed probes over crashes and growing scrutiny.
‘It’s been a great pleasure to help Tesla towards its goals over the last 5 years and a difficult decision to part ways. In that time, Autopilot graduated from lane keeping to city streets and I look forward to seeing the exceptionally strong Autopilot team continue that momentum,’ he wrote on Twitter, noting that he has no plans for what’s next.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied to thank him for his work at the company.
The leadership change comes at a challenging time, as Tesla faces renewed scrutiny from US regulators over crashes involving drivers who used Autopilot and works to expand the latest version of Full Self Driving (FSD) to a larger number of customers.
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Tesla’s head of artificial intelligence and autopilot Andrej Karpathy, pictured above at a conference, is leaving the company at a critical time – as it faces renewed probes over crashes and growing scrutiny.
For example, investigators are probing the death of a woman who was struck by a Tesla driver, 39, who was reportedly high on drugs and driving on Autopilot when the car went airborne and hit her.
A man was charged with vehicular manslaughter, according to reports from NBC 7 San Diego.
The case is believed to have involved Frank Shoaf, who was high from huffing – inhaling household items – while driving on Othello Avenue around 8.30am. He admitted to police that he had run the red light, hit a dip, which caused him to go airborne two feet, before he hit Cassandra May, 40.
After Shoaf struck her, her body reportedly was lunched seven to eight feet in the air before landing 25 feet away. Her was transported to the hospital, where she later died.
US regulators are investigating the death of a woman who was struck by a Tesla driver, 39, who was reportedly high on drugs and driving on Autopilot when the car went airborne and hit her (pictured: A California Tesla crash, where the vehicle went airborne)
Tesla began offering a beta FSD in October 2020 and expanded it in December of the following year – and ever since, Musk has promised a wider rollout as the challenging technology is beset by delays and reports of Autopilot-involved crashes.
The NHTSA had previously opened 35 special crash investigations involving Tesla vehicles in which advanced driver assistance systems like Autopilot were suspected of being used since 2016.
Although the NHTSA did not name the specific crash, it is believed to have involved Frank Shoaf, (pictured) who struck and killed Cassandra May, 40, in June after he was high from huffing – inhaling household items
The NHTSA typically opens more than 100 special crash investigations annually into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues that have, for instance, previously helped to develop safety rules on air bags.
A total of 15 crash deaths have been reported in those Tesla investigations, including the most recent incident.
Separately, the NHTSA told Reuters it was aware of ‘and in discussions with Tesla’ regarding a Florida crash on Wednesday that killed a 66-year-old Tesla driver and a 67-year-old passenger.
A 2015 Tesla rear-ended a tractor-trailer in the Gainesville area at a rest area off Interstate 75, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a police report. Both people in the Tesla were pronounced dead at the scene.
In June, the NHTSA upgraded its defect probe into 830,000 Tesla (TSLA.O) vehicles with Autopilot, a required step before it could seek a recall.
The NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation to assess the performance of the system in 765,000 vehicles after about a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles struck stopped emergency vehicles – and said last month it had identified six additional crashes.
The NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff told Reuters last week he wanted to complete the Tesla Autopilot investigation ‘as quickly as we possibly can, but I also want to get it right. There’s a lot of information that we need to comb through.
Other deadly smashes linked to Tesla’s autopilot feature
January 20, 2016 in China: Gao Yaning, 23, died when the Tesla Model S he was driving slammed into a road sweeper on a highway near Handan, a city about 300 miles south of Beijing. Chinese media reported that Autopilot was engaged.
Joshua D. Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio died in an Autopilot crash in May 2016
May 7, 2016 in Williston, Florida: Joshua D. Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio died when cameras in his Tesla Model S failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky.
The NTSB found that the truck driver’s failure to yield the right of way and a car driver’s inattention due to overreliance on vehicle automation were the probable cause of the crash.
The NTSB also noted that Tesla Autopilot permitted the car driver to become dangerously disengaged with driving. A DVD player and Harry Potter movies were found in the car.
March 23, 2018 in Mountain View, California: Apple software engineer Walter Huang, 38, died in a crash on U.S. Highway 101 with the Autopilot on his Tesla engaged.
The vehicle accelerated to 71 mph seconds before crashing into a freeway barrier, federal investigators found.
The NTSB, in a preliminary report on the crash, also said that data shows the Model X SUV did not brake or try to steer around the barrier in the three seconds before the crash in Silicon Valley.
Crash scene photos show the wreck on March 23, 2018 in Mountain View, California
March 1, 2019 in Delray, Florida: Jeremy Banner, 50, died when his 2018 Tesla Model 3 slammed into a semi-truck.
NTSB investigators said Banner turned on the autopilot feature about 10 seconds before the crash, and the autopilot did not execute any evasive maneuvers to avoid the crash.
April 17, 2021 in Houston, Texas
A Tesla smashed into a tree and burst into flames in Texas, resulting in the deaths of two men – the car’s owner Doctor William Varner, and his pal Everette Talbot.
Police had said it was apparent that there was no one in the driver’s seat at the time of the crash in the wealthy The Woodlands neighborhood of Houston, on April 17.
But Tesla had refuted police’s claims, saying a deformed steering wheel suggested that someone was likely in the driver’s seat.
Varner, 59, and Talbot, 69, both died in the fatal crash when the Tesla Model S – bought second-hand off eBay in January – smashed into a tree and burst into flames.
Dr. William Varner, 59, and Everette Talbot, 69, both died in the fatal crash when the Tesla Model S smashed into a tree and burst into flames
May 5, 2021 in Los Angeles, California
Steven Michael Hendrickson, 35, was killed when his white Tesla Model 3 struck an overturned semi-truck at about 2.30am on May 5
Steven Michael Hendrickson, 35, was killed when his white Tesla Model 3 struck an overturned semi-truck at about 2.30am on May 5.
Before his death, the married father of two posted social media videos of himself riding in the electric vehicle without his hands on the wheel or foot on its pedal.
The crash happened on the 210 Freeway near Fontana, California – about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.
A preliminary investigation determined that the Tesla’s partially automated driving system called Autopilot ‘was engaged’ prior to the crash.
A spokesman added that no final conclusion had been reached on what exactly had caused the fatal crash – the 29th involving a Tesla to have been probed by federal agency the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The Mack truck, which the Tesla collided with, had crashed and overturned just five minutes earlier, blocking two lanes of the highway, according to a highway patrol report.
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