by

Alain L. Kornhauser, PhD

Fellow, Inst. Transportation Engr. (ITE)

Professor, ORFE(Operations Research & Financial Engineering)

Director, CARTS(Center for Automated Road Transportation Safety)

Faculty Chair, PAVE (Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering)

Princeton University

July 4, 2016

Tesla Crash 05/07/16Crash Scene

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/business/self-driving-tesla-fatal-crash-investigation.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FNational%20Highway%20Traffic%20Safety%20Administration&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

Nominal 12 foot travel lanes

Nominal 12 foot turning lanes

Nominal 76 foot Grass MedianLeaving a Nominal 52 ft. Crossing zone spanning edges of turning lanes

Nominal 52 ft. Crossing zone spanning edges of turning lanes

Tractor likely travelled about 125 ft. from the point at which it began to make the turn to the point of the crash.

At 30 fps (~ 20 mph) that trajectory takes about 4 seconds. The last 30 feet (from nose of truck entering the crash lane to final location) occurs in the last second.

Unless the truck was going substantially slower, an AEB that doesn’t “watch” for cross-trajectoryObjects, measure their cross trajectory component of velocity and anticipate its encroachment of the lane ahead isn’t likely to perform well.

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1. View at crash Intersection towards on-coming Tesla

2. View toward crash Intersection From Tesla Location about 44 seconds before crash

(Tesla has not released data as to the speed of the Tesla as it approached the crash. One eye witness (Mulligan) claimed the Tesla was not speeding. I assumed it was traveling at a constant 100 fps or about 68 mph)

3. View toward crash Intersection From Tesla Location about 36 seconds before crash

4. View toward crash Intersection From Tesla Location about 15 seconds before crash

5. View toward crash Intersection From Tesla Location about 6.7 seconds before crash

6. View toward crash Intersection From Tesla Location about 5.5 seconds before crash

7. View toward crash Intersection From Tesla Location about 2.7 seconds before crash

@ 100 ft/sec = 68.2 mph

8. View toward crash Intersection From Tesla Location about 1.6 seconds before crash

@ 100 ft/sec = 68.2 mph

The 1st Fence

The 2nd Fence

The Pole

Distance to Pole ~ 870 ft