Tesla stock continued to plunge this week as Elon Musk’s management of Twitter continues to be a source of embarrassment for the once-revered electric car mogul. According to the Wall Street Journal, Tesla shares fell “sharply” on Thursday. The shock is now down 65% from the start of 2022.
Adding insult to injury, a self-driving Tesla car reportedly “triggered” an eight-car pileup in San Francisco last month. The revelation came to light this week, which obviously, Musk does not need right now. He really could’ve done without this latest headache. Via CNN Business:
The report states that the Tesla Model S was traveling at about 55 mph and shifted into the far left-hand lane, but then braked abruptly, slowing the car to about 20 mph. That led to a chain reaction that ultimately involved eight vehicles to crash, all of which had been traveling at typical highway speeds.
Tesla’s driver-assist technologies, Autopilot and “full self-driving” are already being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration following reports of unexpected braking that occurs “without warning, at random, and often repeatedly in a single drive.”
As CNN Business notes, the accident occurred “just hours” after Musk announced on Twitter that the self-driving feature was available to “anyone in North America who requested it.” However, drivers are repeatedly warned that the feature “may do the wrong thing at the worst time,” which are not exactly the words you want to see when handing over control of your two-ton motor vehicle to a software update. Case in point: The aforementioned pileup.
(Via CNN Business, Wall Street Journal)
Source: https://uproxx.com/viral/tesla-stock-tanking-self-driving-8-car-pile-up/
